


Dreaming of You (Rewrite)

by M1dn1ght_Star



Series: Dreaming of You ⭐️ [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Arthur is good bean, Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Murder, Aunt Muriel is BAMF, Child Abuse, Crack, Creature Draco and Harry, Creature Fic, Creature Inheritance, Dementors just want a vacation, Dolores Umbridge Bashing, Dolores Umbridge Being an Asshole, Dominant Draco Malfoy, Drarry, Dumbles not all there, Elves Love To Party, Evil Albus Dumbledore, Fake Prophecy, Fawkes is free finally, Fawkes is good boi, Fluff and Angst, Ginny Weasley Bashing, Goldy (Goldfish but no one calls him that except for Pansy), Good Death Eaters, Good Malfoy Family, Good Slytherins, Good Tom Riddle, Harry's familiar - snake Vanadi, Hermione Granger Bashing, I really like describing outfits, Kidnapping, M/M, Malfoy Yule Ball, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Master of Death Harry Potter, Mates, Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter), Molly Weasley Bashing, Molly gets arrested, More tags to be added, Murder, Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter), Prince of the Dementors, Regulus Black Deserves Better, Regulus Black Lives, Ron Weasley Bashing, Sane Tom Riddle, Severus Snape has tattoos, Small OC characters like house elves, Some potentially triggering language at some points, Submissive Harry Potter, Thany, The Giant Squid - Freeform, The Pink Toad Bashing, Trials, Voldy was made by Dumbles, Wizengamot, a smol frog, allusions to torture, because I said so, but in the past, cursing, do not copy to another site, hedwig - Freeform, injuries, like once, magical bonding, meaningful ones, non graphic injuries, original art of said tattoos is now available :)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 49
Words: 46,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23393452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M1dn1ght_Star/pseuds/M1dn1ght_Star
Summary: Harry is struggling to survive yet another summer trapped with his muggle relatives. He is getting desperate, terrified that this summer might become his last if the treatment from the Dursleys continues. An unexpected dream changes everything and Harry finds himself with a new family, true friends, and a chance at happiness and revenge on those who have wronged him.Warnings: CHILD ABUSE is mentioned fairly graphically in the beginningWelcome to my former Wattpad readers: YES TIS I, I deleted my account permanently on Wattpad as of 10/12/20 for personal and access reasons. This is my story and on Wattpad was posted by the same username
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Series: Dreaming of You ⭐️ [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679161
Comments: 176
Kudos: 1246
Collections: Finished faves, Rainy Day Reads, Veela Draco Malfoy, bitty_bel has read





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [severus_snape](https://archiveofourown.org/users/severus_snape/gifts).



> I've published the dream from the very beginning of the story that I wrote, as it never made its way into the actual story. It's quite short but I wanted to post it anyways. It can be found under the name Dreaming of Contentment in the series. Hope you enjoy <3
> 
> Also wanted to give a shoutout to Graydove71! They posted a fic partially inspired by Dreaming of You called In My Dreams I Am Happy, a really good read, and I highly recommend it! I saw the note at the bottom of the work about it being inspired and was super excited 😆

Harry tossed fitfully on his ratty mattress, trying his best to ignore the pain of his bruised and beaten body enough to fall asleep in the tiny under the stairs cupboard that had been his for as long as he could remember. He was beginning to drift off when, suddenly, he felt a wash of light over him and he saw a face in the light watching him. It had white-blonde hair and kind silver eyes.

Harry sat bolt upright when he realized who it was. Why was Draco featuring in his dreams? Pain shot through his battered body and he sucked in a breath and tried to lie down again. It was only a few more weeks until he could go back to Hogwarts. He could make it. He _had_ to make it. Sighing, he finally fell asleep.

***

Draco lay tiredly in his bed, exhausted from the ordeal of his creature inheritance. It wasn’t time to rest yet, however. His mate, who of course had to be _Harry Potter,_ seemed to have been in a lot of pain when he’d been gifted a glimpse of him. His Veela instincts were screaming for him to go to Harry immediately and take him somewhere safe.

Groaning, he sat up and got out of bed, trying to ignore his aching limbs the best he could and steadying himself unconsciously with his new wings when he almost lost his balance standing up. It was time to talk to his parents. 

***

Harry was ripped from his sleep by the sound of Dudley stomping down the stairs above him like a human whale. His half-awake brain registered the time and he froze in terrified panic. He was supposed to have made breakfast already. Scrambling out of bed, he winced as pain filled his body and fumbling for his glasses, rushed into the kitchen.

Uncle Vernon loomed by the table, beady eyes glaring at him furiously. “You should have been in here twenty minutes ago, boy! We’ll have to teach you a lesson. You need to learn how to be a good boy and not a freak. Come here!” he bellowed.

Trembling, Harry bent over in front of Vernon, who took a belt and whipped him viciously about 20 times. His back burned with extreme pain as new wounds were created on top of already existing injuries.

Seemingly satisfied, Vernon put the belt away and sat down at the table where Dudley and Petunia were already waiting. 

“Now, make us breakfast!” His aunt demanded in her nasal voice.

***

Draco swallowed nervously as he and his parents apparated in front of where Harry was apparently living. It was a nondescript house that looked much the same as the ones on either side of it, apart from a beautiful garden. They were dressed in casual wizarding attire so they wouldn’t stand out too much from the muggles.

“Ready?” His father asked, a grim look on his face.

Draco couldn’t muster the ability to form words verbally and so instead nodded, panic swirling around his stomach.

The trio walked up the driveway and knocked on the door. There came a shout from inside, something that sounded like, “Boy...answer...now...beat...you!”

Draco’s eyes widened in horror. How could Harry be forced to live with these people?!

After a moment and some shuffling inside the house, the front door swung open to reveal Harry, who seemed to be holding into the doorframe for support. The boy was practically swallowed up by the oversized and dirty clothes he was wearing, and far too thin from what he could see. Something that looked suspiciously like blood was dripping down his side.

“Draco? What are you doing here?” Harry cried, jerking backwards in shock, eyes wide in surprise and what Draco desperately hoped was not fear.

The blond teen’s Veela was fighting ferociously to take over at the sight of his injured submissive mate, but he forced it down with not a small amount of effort, and instead said as casually as he could manage, “Hey, Harry. Mind if we come in?”

***

Harry stared in shock at Draco standing on his doorstep. He blinked a couple of times to make sure this wasn’t some fever-induced hallucination from an infected wound or something. Then his mind flashed back to his strange dream last night for a moment, but he dismissed it quickly. Remembering the Malfoys were still waiting for a reply, he shook his head and took a step back. “Uh- yeah, sure.” Harry managed to mumble out.

The Malfoys filed into the entryway, looking around with unimpressed faces at the hideous decoration and color schemes. As she went past, Draco’s mother looked at him in a way he could only describe as worriedly. But why would they care? Draco hated him, right?

He led them into the dining room, where the Dursleys were finishing their breakfast, and cleared his throat to get their attention. Vernon’s head snapped up and an ugly expression took over his face. Unconsciously, Harry curled into himself and moved as far away as he could get from everyone, tucking himself in the corner by the cabinets.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my house?” Vernon demanded, turning red in anger.

“Calm yourself, sir. We just came to see Harry.” Draco’s father said, a dangerous glint in his eyes. 

“Harry?” Vernon was livid. “You must be some of the freaks I’m always trying to keep him away from. Get out of my house!” He took a threatening step towards them, fixing a look that promised pain on the dark-haired teen. Harry pressed himself against the wall, trying to make himself as small as possible.

***

Draco couldn’t restrain himself any longer at this blatant threatening of his mate. “I’m not leaving without Harry!” he growled, his Veela starting to take over. In a few quick steps, he placed himself directly between the fat muggle and his mate. Glancing back to ascertain that his mate was alright, he saw a hopeful look start to appear on Harry’s face and knew he had to rescue him from this place if it was the last thing he did.

“Harry, get your stuff, dear. You can come with us.” His mother said gently, her wand clasped firmly in her hand and pointed at Vernon.

The dark haired teen rushed out of the room, escaping gratefully, and Draco maneuvered himself towards the door in case he needed to help him with anything. 

To his surprise, Harry just opened what he assumed was a broom closet under the stairs and disappeared inside. He reappeared a moment later pulling his trunk and Hedwig’s empty cage. 

“Where’s Hedwig?” Draco asked Harry.

“Outside hunting for food. It was the only way to protect her.” Harry said quietly, coming to stand by the front door. He looked so small and unsure that Draco couldn’t resist his instincts anymore and protectively pulled Harry against him, making soft noises to comfort him.

His mate looked over towards the garden and suddenly Draco realized from some hidden instinct that it was Harry’s garden, one he’d put lots of love and care into. 

“Can I bring it with me somehow?” the dark haired teen asked uncertainly, as if he expected his request would be denied. 

“I can shrink it into a magical box that’s usually used for potion ingredient transport?” Draco offered. “Severus drilled it into my habits to always have at least one with me.”

Harry nodded and the blonde pulled his wand out, focusing intently before casting several spells to extract the plants safely from the ground along with all of their roots and surrounding soil, shrink them to a transportable size and store them safely in the box, and then replace the dirt hole with nondescript grass. His mate looked at him in amazement and thanked him several times, causing a feeling of happiness and pride to come from his veela.

***

Harry whipped his head back towards the house as raised voices could be heard. Lord and Lady Malfoy came storming out and looked to where the two were standing on the front path.

“Come along, Harry. I’m sure you can’t wait to get out of this miserable place.” Lord Malfoy said, kicking over a ugly empty flower pot that Dudley had made in primary school on the way out.

Harry tried to follow but felt himself sway dizzily, his vision blacking out. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Draco’s worried face.


	2. Chapter Two

Harry slowly became aware of his body again and after a moment could mostly make out hushed voices talking nearby. His limbs felt weighed down by heaviness and his head hurt.

“His body has been abused for so long that I don’t think he’ll ever grow to full size.” A gentle voice was saying.

“I know, but at least most of the damage can be healed magically. I don’t know why Madame Pomfrey hadn’t done something about it before this, but I plan on finding out.” A harsher voice replied.

Still not really registering the situation, Harry groaned and tried to sit up. He needed to get up before his uncle got angry with him for lazing around again. Burning fire exploded throughout his back and a gasp of pain escaped him. His vision was a little blurry and everything seemed to be spinning, but he ignored it and pushed himself up. 

Draco was by his side in an instant. “Harry! You’re not well enough to get up yet.” the blonde insisted, gently pressing on his shoulders. 

Harry’s muddled mind finally registered the fact that he wasn’t at the Dursleys and he unconsciously relaxed a little. He looked at Draco for a moment, still slightly confused as to why the other boy was acting so protective all of a sudden, but listened to him, laying back down.

Once he was settled back against the pillows, Harry finally looked around at his surroundings. To his surprise, Lucius Malfoy was also in the room, sitting in a gold and white embroidered armchair nearby. He had seemingly been playing chess with Draco before Harry had woken up and disrupted their game.The Malfoy lord was looking at him now and had a softer look on his face than Harry had ever witnessed before. 

“I’m glad you’re awake, Harry. You collapsed because of food deprivation and stress.” Lord Malfoy said quietly. 

Harry noticed for the first time that it was light outside. “How long have I been unconscious?” he asked uncertainly.

The Malfoy’s exchanged a look before Lucius replied, “About eight hours. I suspect your body needed the sleep and once you were out, you stayed that way until you could rest properly.”

Harry blinked and then asked, “Why did you come to the Dursleys? No, wait, how did you even know where I was?”

***

Draco was not about to admit he had asked his father to illegally look at some Ministry paperwork and decided to ease him into the creature inheritance issue instead. 

“Well, actually, have you been having any weird dreams lately?” Draco sidetracked.

“No, not rea- oh, actually yeah, there was this one dream…” Harry said, a strange look on his face. “Yeah, I have…” he trailed off.

“Was there a bright light and a face?” He asked.

“How do you know that?” Harry exclaimed, looking extremely confused.

Draco decided that dancing around the subject wasn’t worth the stress it would give his mate and said, “Well, I had the same dream last night. I know you have lots of questions you want to ask, but please wait until I finish.” He added hastily when Harry opened his mouth again.

Running a hand through his hair, the Veela thought for a moment. “I might as well give you some background,” he concluded. “A long time ago, a few species of magical creatures gifted certain wizarding families with special powers. Inheriting these powers can give you extra magic, transformative powers not too unlike animagus in a way, and a mate. The last is what you really need to know at the moment. We are mates, but soulmates too. We have a soul bond, which means we can feel each other’s emotions and sometimes can trade thoughts. This probably won’t happen for a while. Also, since I am a dominant Veela, you will be a submissive creature.”

Draco’s father cleared his throat and added, “We will be going to Gringotts as soon as you are physically well enough to make the journey. The goblins can help us figure out what inheritance you have and also if you have any other inheritances of a property, money, or item sort. Not that you wouldn’t have any, seeing as you’re the general wizarding population’s favorite celebrity, I’m sure some old witches and wizards without heirs dumped their stuff on you.” The last bit was mentioned in a very sarcastic tone, not unlike what Draco might hear from his Godfather Severus, and the young blonde was quite amused.

***

Harry was feeling _slightly_ overwhelmed with all the new information and really wanted some time alone to sort everything out in his mind. He played with the corner of the blanket covering him for a moment, trying to form the right words to articulate this.

Thankfully, Draco seemed to sense what he was trying to say and mentioned casually, “I’m sure you would like some time alone to process, so in the meantime I will go find some food for you to eat.” 

Lord Malfoy had summoned a house elf while his son was talking and they had vanished again, taking the chess set with them. Standing up, Lucius collected his walking stick from its place by the door and nodded in farewell as he followed Draco of the room.


	3. Chapter Three

Harry was so deep in thought that he didn’t notice Draco had returned to the room until the other boy touched his arm, causing him to flinch back instinctively. Draco made a noise of anger at that and Harry panicked. 

Draco was mad at him. He knew that there was no way anyone could think of him as anything other than a freak. He should just go back to the Dursleys, where he belonged.

***

Draco growled in anger at the thought of what had made Harry flinch away like that. He set the tray of food down on the table next to Harry’s bed and asked, “Harry, what do you feel like eating?” 

The other boy didn’t respond, and he looked over to see his mate curled in a ball on the bed, staring blankly at the wall.

“Harry? Harry? Harry!” he said as calmly as he could manage, panicking inwardly. Had he done something by accident that might have sent him into a panic attack? After a moment, he realized that the growl earlier might have made Harry think that the Veela was angry at him.

Recalling what his father did whenever Severus had a panic attack, he managed to get the other boy’s breathing to slow down and waited until Harry looked at him with clear eyes before he carefully pulled Harry’s far too thin body into his arms, making sure to leave him plenty of opportunity to pull away. He hugged him gently until the other stopped trembling. 

“I’m not mad at you, Harry. Shh, it’s okay. I’m sorry for growling like that. It wasn’t at you.” Draco said, keeping up a stream of comforting words.

***

Harry felt strong arms wrap around him and tensed up initially, but once he realized they weren’t going to hurt him, he melted into their embrace. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been hugged.

Someone was murmuring in his ear and when he focused he could hear Draco saying, “-not mad at you, Harry. Shh, it’s okay.”

He uncurled slightly and found that he was sitting on Draco’s lap. Looking up, he was startled by how close he was to Draco’s face. His eyes widened and he blushed, scrambling off Draco’s lap hastily.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to react like that. Please don’t make me go back to the Dursleys.” He pleaded desperately, afraid that the other wouldn’t want him to be his mate anymore.

“You’re never going back to that disgusting place.” Draco said fiercely, reassuring him a little. “It’s fine, I’m not upset with you for having a panic attack.”

***

“Anyways…” Draco changed the subject, “Let’s get you some food.” He picked up the bowl of soup from the tray and held a spoonful up to Harry’s face. “Open up, lil one.”

Laughing, Harry did as he asked, allowing Draco to feed him. Deep inside, the dark haired teen felt warm at being cared for like this and felt an odd urge to let out a trilling sound.

Lord Malfoy came back in just as Draco was convincing Harry to eat the bread as well. He cleared his throat to get their attention. 

“Harry, if you’re feeling better, I thought you might like to go in the garden for a while. It’s lovely weather outside and Draco can come to make sure you don’t get lost.” He suggested. 

Harry’s face lit up. “I’d love to!” he exclaimed.

Draco insisted on carrying him there and after a half-hearted argument, Harry relented, secretly enjoying being cared for like this.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new chapter day! I've been really bad about reading and responding to comments recently and I'm so sorry! In apology, here's chapter 4.
> 
> For my original story readers, don't worry I kept the confetti throwing lol

Harry looked around the “garden” in wonder, It was the size of a park and had a pool, waterfall, many different plants and flowers, and windchimes. Where the house was somewhat stiff and formal looking, the garden was peaceful and relaxed. He could see why Lord Malfoy had thought he’d want to come outside. Draco had a content smile on his face and Harry felt the happiest he had in a long time.

Being out in the garden reminded Harry of something he’d forgotten until now. “Draco?” he asked, poking the blonde’s shoulder playfully. “Can I have my garden back now?”

“Oops.” Draco smiled and dug around in his pocket, pulling out the box and handing it to Harry. “What are you planning on doing with it? I bet my mum would let you replant it here if you asked.” he said.

“Really?” Harry looked at Draco uncertainly. “Can we ask her about that later then please?” he asked, fiddling with the box he was now holding nervously.

“Of course.” The blond nodded reassuringly. He held his hand out to Harry and after a moment of hesitation, the dark haired teen took it. They wandered over to the waterfall and, taking their shoes off, splashed their feet in the pond at the bottom. A tiny fish swam past and nibbled at Harry’s toes. He scrunched his nose up at the odd feeling but smiled. 

Harry felt a rush of energy travelling up his feet from the water, which had been tingling, and let out a giggle at the tickling sensation. On a whim, he twirled a finger at the water in front of him and let out a surprised gasp when a tiny flower formed out of water and floated into the air.

“Draco, look!” He cried excitedly, pushing the flower towards his mate. It wobbled a little as his focus became distracted, but ultimately kept its design for the most part. He felt a constant little tug on his magic in order to maintain the flower and instinctively knew that he shouldn’t keep holding the water in a shape for much longer, because he wasn’t used to using this type of his magic yet and could hurt himself.

As soon as Draco had seen the flower for a few seconds, he relaxed his hands and the flower cascaded back down into the pond, making tiny splashes as the water returned to its natural form. Sighing a little in relief when his magic was no longer being drained, Harry flopped down, leaning against Draco’s shoulder.

***

Draco looked at his mate in awe. “That was beautiful, Harry! I think you’re most likely a water elf, but I’m sure father will still insist on dragging you to Gringotts for the inheritance test, though.” He added wryly.

“What, no ‘my father will hear about this’?” his mate mumbled playfully, grinning tiredly at him. 

“Oh, shush.” Draco pouted, crossing his arms grumpily. Harry was still leaning against him and he realized that they should probably return to the house soon. His mate was obviously tired and was still healing, so he shouldn’t be doing a lot right now. 

“Can you tell me more about water-elves?” Harry asked shyly after a moment of silence.

“As much as I know, but then you’re better off finding another water-elf to mentor you. I can ask my father if he knows any.” Draco replied. 

“Okay.” Harry agreed, and they fell into peaceful silence, occasionally splashing each other with their feet. The dark haired boy seemed half-asleep by now, but Draco couldn’t bring himself to end the moment just yet.

Their silence was finally broken when Draco heard his father calling for them to come back inside. He helped a drowsy Harry up from the ground and they walked slowly back to the manor house. His father had probably seen them splashing each other near the waterfall, because when they arrived, he was standing on the path with a house-elf holding towels nearby.

***

The house-elf handed Harry a towel and said, “Tell me’s if you need another, Minny can get you one, sir.”

“Thank you, Minny.” Harry replied, smiling thankfully at the elf.

Draco had been talking to his father while Harry had been drying off, and he now came back over. “Father wants me to tell you that supper will be served in an hour. He regretfully won’t be there to host because of some work, but Mother will be hosting instead. He also wants you to know that we’re taking you to Gringotts tomorrow for your inheritance test.” Draco said, his formal tone a striking contrast to earlier. Harry would deny this until his last breath, but he also found it kind of hot.

“Couldn’t talk him out of it?” Harry joked, smiling at Draco’s adorable laugh.

“Actually, yes to the creature inheritance, but he still thinks that it’s only right for you to see if you have any house rings or vaults that you can claim. I don’t know what on earth Dumbledore was thinking, not having you take one already! Most of them have protections on them for things like love potions and poisons and things like that and I’m sure you could’ve used that.” Draco responded.

Lord Malfoy had disappeared inside at this point, and Harry was suddenly feeling sleepy again.

“Draco, can I take a nap before supper?” He asked quietly, yawning a little. 

Draco nodded immediately. “Of course, Harry. Do you know you’re way up to the room you’re staying in, or should I take you there?”

“Take me there. I’d just get lost otherwise.” Harry replied after a moment of thought. Only to be followed with a “Hey, wha-” as Draco scooped him up into his arms, bridal style.

***

“You didn’t think I’d make my mate walk all the way up four flights of stairs when he’s exhausted, did you?” Draco said, stopping Harry from protesting. He booped the other boy on the nose teasingly, causing Harry to bat half-heartedly at his hand.

The other boy submitted to his embrace, and clung tightly to Draco’s shirt when they went up the stairs. He yawned again several times, and Draco’s veela was running in circles throwing confetti about being able to care for Harry.

They made it to Harry’s room, and Draco placed him carefully on the bed and sat down in the chair next to it, setting a magical alarm for one hour, before falling asleep next to his slumbering mate.


	5. Chapter Five

An hour later, Harry was woken up gently by Draco, who carefully shook him awake. He rubbed at his eyes and smiled fondly at his mate. “Draco?”

“It’s time for dinner.” Draco explained, grinning and hopping off the bed from where he’d been sitting next to Harry. The brunette got up and followed Draco through Malfoy Manor until they arrived at a small, cosy looking room. Harry was a little surprised the dining room wasn’t fancier, given the opulent and pretentious feel to the rest of the manor.

“We don’t use the formal dining hall unless we’re hosting a large group of nobles, for example our annual Yule Ball.” Draco said, answering Harry’s unspoken question, having intuitively sensed his confusion and recognised the source. The blonde pulled out a chair at the table for Harry, who sat down shyly, a light blush on his face. He really liked being cared for like this.

Across the table, Draco’s mother was sitting, wearing casual clothes and she had a warm expression on her face. “How are you doing, Harry dear?” She asked kindly. “I heard you were feeling tired earlier.”

“Much better, Lady Malfoy.” Harry replied politely. He played with his fingers nervously under the table. Even though dinner was a casual occurrence, he was still uncomfortable interacting with the polite and high society family as he was unsure of what formalities were expected of him and how wizarding customs worked.

She laughed and he looked at her uncertainly, worried that she found him rude and was laughing at his bad manners. 

“Oh, there’s no need to call me that! I prefer Cissa for friends of the family.” Lady Malfoy said. 

Harry sat there unsure for a moment and reached out unconsciously with a hand to Draco at his left for comfort. His mate took his hand gently and soothing feelings overcame Harry.

“Well, thank you, Cissa.” Harry said, giving her a small but genuine smile.

***

Draco watched Harry interact with his mother, slightly curious about how they’d find each other’s company. He wasn’t worried but it didn’t hurt to keep an eye on his mate in case he needed reassurance. This instinct was proven to have been well worth listening to when Harry reached out for his hand only a little ways through the meal. When they seemed to be getting along well, he smiled and asked, “What have the house elves made today?”

“Oh, Mipsy insisted on pasta with treacle tart for dessert. She apparently heard from an elf friend at Hogwarts that it was one of Harry’s favorites.” His mother smirked at Draco’s intent expression. His veela was focused on making sure it remembered everything so they could take the best care of their mate.

On his right, Harry was looking shy and blushed a little. “Please tell Mipsy thank you for me.” He said quietly.

Draco’s smile grew wider as he told his mate, “You can thank her yourself!” 

Mipsy popped into the room at that very moment, holding a tray with three plates of spaghetti. When she gave Harry his plate, the boy said, “Thank you for going to all this effort for me. I really appreciate it!” 

He beamed at the house elf, who grinned back at him and said, “Mipsy doesn’t mind, Mr. Potter. She loves cheering people up.” before disappearing with another pop.

***

Harry waited until the other two started eating before he started, as he still wasn’t entirely sure of magical customs. Draco seemed to be enjoying the spaghetti immensely as well and he bit back a smile when the veela almost dropped some on himself in his enthusiasm. It was nice to see a softer and less reserved side of his mate. He wanted someone who could be caring and protective, but still playful and able to have fun.

Lady Malf- _ Cissa _ seemed to be holding back a smile herself, he noticed. “Draco, slow down, darling.” was all she commented, however.

Draco blushed and Harry almost cooed at how adorable he looked. Hopefully, if he had kids in the future, they’d inherit that adorableness. Surprised at himself for the sudden thoughts, Harry was uncomfortable with the idea at the moment and shoved them into a deep, dark, tiny crevice in his mind for later.

Clearing his throat, he settled for saying, “Is he always like this when eating? I hadn’t noticed when we were at Hogwarts, but maybe it was his manners?”

Quiet laughing ensued. “Oh, no, he’s usually quite a well mannered eater. Only spaghetti will make him into this food monster.” Cissa responded.

“It’s not that bad!” Draco protested, turning a deeper shade of red.

Cissa gave him a look and Harry couldn’t help a giggle at Draco’s muttered response of, “Okay, maybe it is that bad.”

***

Draco finished his food quickly but carefully, hoping his mother wouldn’t try to embarrass him again in front of his mate. Mipsy appeared and took their empty plates, smiling at Harry before popping away again. She reappeared shortly with plates of treacle tart and Draco looked fondly at Harry’s expression of excitement.

Remembering his mate’s request earlier, he waited until his mother was finished talking about something with Mipsy before clearing his throat.

“Mother, when Harry came here to the Manor with us, we brought his garden along with him in the potion ingredient storage box Severus gave me. We were wondering if it would be alright to replant it somewhere in the manor gardens?” he asked.

“Of course! You might want to ask one of the elves who looks after the grounds for the best spot. Tomorrow perhaps after Gringotts?” She replied, nodding in agreement. 

She finished her dessert and got up, smiling softly at the two boys. “I suggest you boys might like to go back outside and enjoy the sunset, but I’ll be up in the main library reading if you need anything. See you tomorrow and remember to get up at a reasonable time, so don’t stay up too late. We’ll go to Gringotts tomorrow morning, after all.” 

“Okay, thanks, mother. Goodnight.” Draco replied. He helped Harry out of his chair and the two wandered outside again, holding hands cutely. The mates sat down on a bench in the flower garden, close together, and watched the sunset as the sky morphed into various stunning hues of pink, orange, and purple. Draco let his wings out in Harry’s presence for the first time and shivered when his mate began stroking the feathers softly.

Curling a wing around Harry, Draco laughed at Harry’s slightly amused face. “What, do you think I look like a giant chicken or something?”

Harry shook his head, laughing. “No, nothing like that, Draco. I was just wondering if you’d ever accidentally opened your wings and whacked someone in the face with them.”

“Well… there was that one time.” And so Draco began telling the story, which involved a highly annoyed Snape, a flight of stairs, and some candy.


	6. Chapter Six

Harry felt extremely nervous and excited at the same time as he stood with Draco, Lady Malfoy, and Lord Malfoy in front of Gringotts. He nervously tugged on the formal robes Draco had lent him. They were a little too big on him, but the vanilla and cinnamon smell of his mate comforted him immensely. Draco had told him that Harry smelled like honey and nutmeg to his veela when the brunette asked.

Draco held his hand and pulled him gently along as they walked into the building, which was just as big as it had always seemed to him, dwarfing all inside of its massive interior. Harry had the hood of his robes up to obscure his face, as no one wanted to deal with the issue of the press today. Lady Malfoy had assured him that it would be taken care of soon. Lord Malfoy led the way to one of the goblins at the counter and greeted him by name, announcing quietly that Harry Potter had come for his inheritance test. 

The goblin gave the group a toothy smile and beckoned them to follow, leading them down a hallway and into a room from where another goblin was sitting. This goblin had glasses and was wearing a fancy suit.

“Head Manager Urnott, I have brought you the Malfoy clan and a boy claiming to be Harry Potter. He wishes to take an inheritance test.” The first goblin said, bowing to the other goblin.

“Thank you, Fangtooth. You are dismissed back to the counter.” Urnott nodded and Fangtooth bowed again and left.

Urnott turned his attention to Harry and stared at him intensely for a moment. “We shall confirm you are indeed Mr. Potter with the test itself, so the identity scan can be skipped today. Be seated and we shall proceed.” He announced, making himself comfortable on the chair behind the desk. The group sat down in the chairs, of which there were enough for everyone to have one with a single chair by the door remaining empty.

“Now, then, Mr. Potter.” the goblin said once they had seated themselves. “I need you to slice your palm with the blade on the left of the bowl and then place 5 drops of blood into the bowl.”

Harry took the dagger and cut himself with it, wincing slightly at the initial pain. Thankfully, he hadn’t cut very deep but there was blood welling up, so hopefully it would be enough. After a moment, he managed to squeeze 5 drops into the bowl, with Draco snatching his hand and healing it with a quick spell right after. Lord Malfoy cleaned the blade and returned it to the table.

Almost immediately, a scroll appeared in front of him. Taking it, he unrolled it and after reading for a moment, stopped in shock.

  
  


Name: Harrison James Potter 

Status: Pureblood

Mother: Lily J. Potter (nee Evans (true maiden name: Greengrass, disowned for thought to be a squib) [deceased]

Maternal Grandmother: Lysandra Greengrass (nee Rosier)

Paternal Grandfather: Pieter Greengrass

Maternal Aunt: Amara Greengrass (nee Burke)

Maternal Uncle: Gladiolus Greengrass

Maternal Cousins: Daphne Greengrass, Astoria Greengrass 

Father: James Charlus Potter [deceased]

Paternal Grandmother: Dorea Potter (nee Black) [deceased]

Paternal Grandfather: Charlus Potter [deceased]

Sire: Sirius Orion Black [through blood adoption] [formerly illegally imprisoned, current Lord Black]

Sire’s Mother (Grandmother): Walburga Black [deceased]

Sire’s Father (Grandfather): Orion Black [deceased]

Sire’s Brother (Uncle): Regulus Black [compromised]

Titles with Claim to:

Potter (Lord) [through father]

Black (Heir) [through sire]

Peverell (Lord) [through father]

Gryffindor (Lord) [through father]

Slytherin (Lord) [through mother]

Ravenclaw (Lord) [through mother]

Inheritance Abilities:

Parseltongue and Parselmagics

Natural Animagus (Black cat with white paws)

Natural Occlumency/Legilimency

Creature: Water Elf - once of age, gains elemental power over water, resistance to love potions, and sense muddling spells and potions

Blocks, Spells, and Potions Influencing:

Love potion forcing affection to Ginny Weasley 

Loyalty spell performed by Molly Weasley and keyed to Molly Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley 

Compulsion spell (unknown) cast by albus dumbledore 

Memory block (unknown) performed by Albus Dumbledore

Loyalty spell performed by Albus Dumbledore and keyed to Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix 

Magical core block performed by Albus Dumbledore (75%)

Vessel of Horcrux (age 1, killing curse)

“What is it?” Draco asked, peering over his mate’s shoulder. “Oh… my…. Damn you have a lot of shit on this!”

Lady Malfoy frowned at him. “Language, Draco!” she scolded halfheartedly, more concerned over what had made her son curse in the first place.

“Sorry, mum.” he replied.

Harry looked up at Draco and asked, “Can you explain this to me? I don’t understand most of it.”

“I keep forgetting you didn’t grow up in the wizarding world.” Draco smiled apologetically at Harry.

“Well, first off, your mum was apparently disowned as a baby because her parents thought she was a squib. Obviously not, but I wonder how that happened. Then, you have 6 rings to claim, 5 lordship and 1 heir. I think we should go over the inheritance abilities later, but the last category is highly concerning.” Draco explained, growling at the last part. “How dare Dumbledore and those no good Weasels!”

Lord Malfoy had also seen the document by then and said to the goblin, “Urnott, can we have the healing and curse breaking done while we’re here?”

“Of course, Lord Malfoy. I suggest you do the ring claimings first though, since it will be better not to expose a magically, mentally, and physically exhausted Harry to such powerful magics.” Urnott said, a toothy smile on his face.

Draco covered a laugh at the look on his father’s face. He’d never seen his father look so embarrassed in public. Harry let out a giggle at the sight too. Lord Malfoy gave him a playful glare and Draco curled a wing protectively around the smaller boy, as even though he knew his father didn’t pose a threat, his veela didn’t.

Urnott rummaged around under the desk for a moment and then pulled out six small boxes, which held the rings. Each box was black emblazoned with the family crest on top.

Draco watched curiously as Urnott opened the first box and pulled out the Black Heir ring. This was going to be interesting.

Harry took the ring from Urnott. He slid it on and shivered as the magic of the Black family rushed through him, searching his soul, before a warm glow of acceptance went through him, radiating from the ring. 

“Very good.” Urnott said, nodding and opening the next box. “Now for the Potter Lordship Ring.”

***

All the rings ended up accepting him, some taking longer than others. The Potter ring had felt like a thousand warm hugs, while the Slytherin had felt like a snake bite, sending him back temporarily to when the basilisk had bitten him in second year. The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had been like being tickled. The Peverell ring had been by far the strangest. When he had put it on, he found himself in a dark clearing in the middle of a forest at night. A hooded figure stood across from him, holding the ring.

“You are welcome in this place, Lord Peverell.” it said, giving him the ring. “I am Death and I give you your power willingly. You are the one true Master of Death, having survived death, and being descended from Ignatius Peverell, youngest brother and respected friend of mine. My hallows will find their way to you, their magic is drawn to you. Do not tell anyone except your mate of this, and have him swear an Unbreakable Vow. Also, do not be surprised when I visit your mind from time to time, mostly in your dreams.”

Harry had nodded gratefully and slid the ring on, which had transported him back to himself, sitting in Urnott’s office.

***

Harry was now walking down a hallway behind the goblin, Draco holding his hand protectively. They went into a small room with a runic circle drawn on the floor. A familiar face was standing there along with several goblins. 

“Bill! What are you doing here?!” He asked, smiling at the sight of one of his favorite Weasley’s. 

“I’m a cursebreaker for Gringotts.” Bill explained, smiling back. “I’m here to help remove the curses on you.” His smile faded when he saw the list of spells. “What is this? My mother performed a loyalty spell on you? How dare she!” Bill was furious, being loyal to Harry over his family, he wanted nothing to do with several of them now. At least he didn’t still live in the Burrow like the poor twins.

Urnott had been hurriedly talking with the goblin healers in the corner and Harry caught several mentions of that word that had been at the bottom of the test, horcrux. He seemed to have finished whatever he was saying and turned back to them.

“Let’s get on with the ritual now,” Urnott said bluntly, “You can talk later.”

Harry was directed to step into the circle and sit cross-legged on the floor. After a moment full of more instructions and a quick explanation, it was time to begin. He closed his eyes and Bill and all of the goblins circled around him clockwise and began to chant.


	7. Chapter Seven

Harry slowly woke up and was disoriented for a moment before recognizing his surroundings. He was back at Malfoy Manor, with Draco curled up next to him in a chair. The blonde stirred and yawned, having felt his mate’s magic flow become stronger and more energetic nearby.

“How are you feeling?” Draco asked, shifting in the chair so he was sitting up properly. He looked over at Harry, who had just convinced his sleepy body to sit up himself.

“A little tired, but much better.” Harry replied. A lot better actually, Harry thought to himself. It was like being free for the first time. He could feel that his magical core was much larger and more powerful than he had ever believed and he could feel the difference in his mind, it was sharper in a sense and clear from the fog he’d never really realized was there before.

Thinking for a moment, he asked his mate, “Would you mind if I invited some friends over some time to explain what’s going on? Not Ginny, Hermione, or Ron of course.” The names of the people he’d thought he could trust felt bitter on his tongue.

“Of course I wouldn’t mind. We’ll have to ask my parents, but I think that would be a good idea. Actually, can I have a few friends over as well if that wouldn’t overwhelm you? It would be a good opportunity for our friends groups to meet. Then we will have more allies and we can work together easier.” Draco replied.

“How positively Slytherin of you!” Harry laughed. “That would be fine, just don’t leave me alone with them unless I ask…” The brunette was already planning on gluing himself to the blonde’s side the entire time, but Draco didn’t need to know that. Suddenly, he thought of something and snorted. “Hey, I don’t think you know, but the Sorting Hat tried to put me in Slytherin. I managed to convince it to put me in Gryffindor under Dumbledore’s compulsion spell.” He spat the man’s name like a curse and made a face of disgust.

“Only you could get that stubborn hat to change your house.” Draco muttered, purposefully ignoring Harry’s other comment. The two had moved and Draco was now being leaned on by Harry while the blonde stroked his hair. 

“What time were you thinking for the meeting?” He asked, playing with some of the strands that refused to lie down flat.

“Tomorrow morning?” Harry hazarded, before realizing he didn’t even know what day it was.

“Oh, you don’t know how long you were out!” Draco exclaimed, comprehending the look of confusion on Harry’s face. “Only about 21 hours, it’s roughly 7 in the morning now.” 

“Kay, thanks Draco.” Harry said, voice muffled by his face against the other’s shoulder. “I’ll send out letters today with Hedwig after I ask your parents, and ask them if they can come tomorrow.” His beloved owl had found her way to the Manor easily, having been freed by Harry at the train station at the beginning of the summer to protect her.

“Let’s get to breakfast then, we can ask my parents there.” Draco poked the brunette until he reluctantly moved off his shoulder.

***

The blonde left the room briefly while Harry got dressed and went to get changed himself, meeting the brunette back in his room. They walked downstairs together to the same room they had eaten dinner in before.

His parents were already there, casually discussing a new potion theory over a plate of fresh fruit. They were animated talking, both being quite knowledgeable on the subject due to their friendship with Draco’s godfather Severus.

His mum noticed their arrival first and called out, “Morning, Harry! Glad to see you’re up. Morning, Draco dear, I asked Mipsy for some of your favorite fruit for you already.”

Perking up, Draco practically dragged Harry over to their seats, sitting down as quickly as he could while retaining his manners.

“Just spaghetti, huh?” Harry muttered teasingly. In retaliation, Draco very maturely stuck his tongue out before quickly stopping at his mother’s disapproving look. His father covered a snort with a cough. The men all knew who really ran the Malfoy household.

Mipsy appeared at this moment carrying a tray of food. She gave a plate to both boys before popping away again. 

***

Harry took a bite and swallowed before asking, “Er, Lady Mal- _ Cissa _ ,” He hastily fixed his mistake at her look. McGonagall had nothing on Narcissa’s glares. “Well, I was wondering if I could have a few friends come over tomorrow? I’d like to update them on what’s going on and I didn’t think owlmail was the best way to go about something as big as this. Draco said he’d like to have a few friends over too if you don’t mind…” He trailed off, glancing at his mate for reassurance. 

Draco gave him a proud look and a warm smile and he felt himself relax almost immediately, his unsurety and self-deprecating thoughts vanished in the comforting presence of the blonde.

“Of course, Harry. I think that’s a wonderful idea!” Cissa replied, smiling approvingly at him. Lord Malfoy, er, Lucius, also agreed quietly.

The table lapsed into comfortable silence as they finished their breakfast. Harry excused himself after he’d finished, whispering into Draco’s ear that he was going to his room to write letters to his friends, somehow knowing that his mate would prefer to know where he was.

He went upstairs and settled in a chair by the window, pulling out some parchment and ink. He chewed thoughtfully on the end of his quill for a moment, before deciding to write to Luna, Neville, Charlie, Bill, and Fred and George. He didn’t really have any other friends, the rest just wanted fame or money. Luna he had met through Neville last year and the two had hit it off well, regularly spending part of the weekend down by the school’s lake, reading or simply relaxing and doing nothing. The blonde girl was in the year below Harry, so they didn’t interact much outside of that.

He was halfway through his letter to Luna when Draco arrived, flopping down on the bed and watching him write.

“Hey, Draco!” He said, melting inwardly at how the other looked laying there, with his white-blond hair tousled, silver eyes playful, and a little smile on his lips. The other seemed to sense it through their connection because he stretched out languorously, smirking as his shirt rode up slightly. Harry’s mouth went dry at the sight of the bare skin, toned and creamy. 

“I-I’m trying to write here, Draco!” He said indignantly, giving him a mock frown and crossing his arms, letter temporarily forgotten..

“I’m trying to distract you.” Draco replied slyly, smirk widening.

“Well, you’re succeeding, so let me be!” Harry said.

“Fine, fine, but I want cuddle time later.” His mate pouted and looked at him pleadingly.

“Sure.” Harry replied, giving into his demands. “Now, leave me alone so I can write.” Draco smirked and turned into his stomach, quietly watching the brunette as he wrote.

***

Eventually, both Harry and Draco had finished their letters and sent them off with their respective owls. While Harry had Hedwig, his beloved Snowy Owl, Draco had a large Eurasian Eagle Owl, which he refused to tell Harry the name of. All he would say is that it wasn’t chosen by him, but rather a young Pansy. Harry concluded it was probably something ridiculous and embarrassing and left it for now, but secretly resolved to ask Pansy about it if she came tomorrow.

While the owls were waiting for the letters, Harry swore he saw Hedwig flirting with the male owl, preening and fluffing her feathers and looking sideways at him. When he told Draco about this, the blonde laughed and then caught sight of his owl staring into Hedwig’s eyes and snorted.   
“You weren’t kidding, huh. I swear, if our owls end up together…”

“We could go on double dates.” Harry choked out, laughing so hard he almost fell over.

Eventually, they managed to get the owls sent off and wandered down to the garden, where they helped get Harry’s garden replanted as promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I lied, I ended up finishing the story early. I’ve decided on a posting schedule of two times a week on Wednesday and Saturday. I hope you will be impressed with the rewrite, I worked hard to show how I’ve improved as a writer and I’ve really loved hearing all your feedback and ideas. If you do see any plot holes or such while reading, please let me know and I’ll make sure to fix them. Thanks! 
> 
> The story was fighting me every word of the way at some points but I really wanted to finish it in the time frame I said I would, so I persevered and without further ado, I present Dreaming of You Rewrite in its magnificent entirety (to be coming soon) :)


	8. Chapter Eight

The next morning, Harry got six letters back from his friends, all agreeing to come. Fred and George were going to sneak out so the other Weasleys wouldn’t know where they were going. Draco had also received replies from his friends, some more willing than others, but who had also all agreed to come. 

Harry and Draco went downstairs together and ate breakfast with Draco’s parents, which was quickly becoming routine for Harry, before Draco took him outside into the garden again, where he had fun messing around near the waterfall, trying to figure out what of his inheritance magic he could access now. The full elemental powers wouldn’t be unlocked until his birthday in a few weeks, but having met his mate, Harry was able to access some of it now.

He had managed to manipulate water into shapes, splash Draco in the face, and float himself lazily in circles on top of the water by the time the first of their friends were scheduled to arrive.

Stretching out a hand to Harry, Draco pulled him up carefully off of the water. Both of them were already somewhat wet, but that didn’t mean he felt like falling entirely into the water.

“Draco, let’s go back up to the house and dry off. Neville will be here any moment!” Harry said excitedly, his face lit up with the prospect of seeing his friend.

Instead of letting go of his mate’s hand, Draco kept hold of it and they walked through the gardens together. Minny was waiting with towels and they dried off with a murmured thank you before heading inside to wait by the main floo fireplace. They could have asked Minny to dry them with magic, but they both hated the weird and uncomfortable feeling caused by it and instead preferred to use towels.

A moment later, the flames turned green and rose up before spitting out Neville, who stumbled for a second, but caught himself. He looked around and smiled when he spotted Harry, eyes flicking uncertainly towards Draco before returning to his friend.

“Hey, Harry. How are you?” He asked, waving to him and nodding to Draco politely.

“Good, thanks Nev. The others should be here soon, so we were planning to wait in here, if that’s alright with you?” Harry replied, still clinging on to Draco’s hand unconsciously.

“That’s fine.” Neville casually took a seat, making small talk with Draco and Harry while they waited.

***

Draco was pleasantly surprised at how well he was getting along with Neville. From what he’d seen at Hogwarts, he’d assumed that he was a clumsy, meek student who should’ve been in Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor, but he was actually polite and friendly now that he got to talk to him. Harry was feeling happy seeing them interact too, apparently, as his cheerful feelings were filtering down the bond to Draco.

The fire suddenly roared up again and spat out Luna, before Bill, Charlie, and Blaise followed in rapid succession. Tentative greetings were given by all and they settled down to wait, Charlie tapping a foot idly.

“How many more are we waiting for?” Blaise asked coolly, looking at Draco.

“Well, there’s Pansy, Theo, Fred and George, that’s it.” Draco replied, nodding as he said so.

“Fred and George might be a bit.” Harry added quietly. “They’re having to sneak out.”

Bill made a face, already knowing the nature of the sneaking out. To think that such measures would be required to support a friend. The Slytherin’s exchanged glances. It was well known the Malfoy and Weasley families have been feuding for generations, so to see so many Weasleys in the Malfoy manor was a bit of a shock.

***

Harry was beginning to feel a bit sleepy, but thankfully Pansy and Theo arrived and pleasantries were exchanged. Draco also sent him a little boost of energy through their partial bond. “Thanks.” He murmured, resisting the urge to lean against Draco’s shoulder as he knew that it would most likely lead to him falling asleep. Draco just nodded and turned back to continue his conversation about ‘blasted ministry aurors’ or some such thing with Pansy. Fred and George popped out of the fireplace grinning a moment later and Harry had to smile at the cheeky expressions on their faces.

“Alright, Draco, where should we head now?” He asked, not missing the raised eyebrows several people shared at his deference to the other boy. Most of them had only seen them as rivals during term, after all.

“I was thinking back out to the garden. It would be helpful for part of the explanation, after all.” Draco said playfully and Harry laughed a little, imagining everyone’s expressions when he showed them his powers.

Harry led the way out into an area of the garden not too far from the waterfall that had benches scattered around in a small clearing. Everyone found a spot to sit and settled down, all looking to Harry. Unnerved by the attention, Harry leaned closer to Draco for comfort.

After a moment of increasingly tense silence, Harry let out a breath and said, “Well, I guess I should start off with the question all of you are probably wondering. Why am I at Draco’s house?” Harry trailed off uncertainly, unsure how to phrase what he wanted to say.

“Want some help?” Draco murmured quietly, sliding closer protectively. Overwhelming relief and gratitude flowed to him and he put an arm around Harry, almost straining to hear the other’s quiet response.

“Yes, thanks. I was out for part of it, after all.” Harry said softly. 

***

Draco could feel himself getting angry just thinking about what those horrid muggles had done to his lovely mate. He wanted to go and smash them into the ground and make them suffer for everything they had done. He wanted to peel them apart and cause them pain for all the pain they had given his mate. He- Harry's small hand on his arm brought him back out of his increasingly violent thoughts and he smiled thankfully at his mate. Now was not the time.

“This summer, I came into my creature inheritance.” Draco started, absently brushing his bangs out of his face. “I’m sure that Pansy, Theo, and Blaise already know this, maybe Neville, but I’ll explain anyway. Creatures gave powers to a few wizards a while back through intermarriage. They run in the family and are passed down inheritances. The Malfoy family are descendants of a Veela, so when I turned 16, boom I’m a Veela.” Harry coughed out a laugh at Draco’s phrasing and he poked his mate in the side in revenge. “Anyways,” Draco continued, “I had my dream about my mate and well, it was Harry.” Several people made noises of realization.

“That explains a lot.” Neville said. “The way you’ve been interacting has changed immensely.”

Draco nodded and then inhaled sharply, hands clenching into fists as he said the next sentences. “I felt extreme pain from his end of the bond and knew I needed to rescue him. My parents went with me to find him and we discovered he’d been living with abusive muggles.” He spat out, feeling sick remembering the state his mate had been in when they’d found him. “We found him there, bruised and beaten, with whip marks on his back. He’d been living in a bloody closet, and I knew I had to get him out of there. We got him out of that horrid place, but he passed out as we were leaving. He was unconscious for about a third of a day and we gave him as much healing as possible. My mother is qualified as a mediwitch, so she was able to help.”

The rest of the group all looked horrified and nauseous at this point. The Weasleys especially seemed to be blaming themselves for not having realized. The Weasley twins were muttering something about bars and flying cars, which seemed concerning no matter the context, so Draco filed that away for later.

“Is he okay now?” Luna questioned, looking concerned at Harry, who was resting on Draco’s shoulder, a frown on his face and a vacant gaze. Draco wasn’t too concerned, knowing that his mate just didn’t want to relieve any more of the bad memories than he had too. 

Draco reached out and stroked his little elf’s hair gently. “As well as he can be. When he felt better, we took him to Gringotts for his inheritance, because apparently, Dumbledore never even told Harry he had more than the Trust Vault his parents left him or explained how the wizarding world worked. He didn’t even give him his vault key and had bloody Hagrid keep it for him instead. He left him vulnerable and confused so he could use him as a pawn to go fight and die in the war against the Dark Lord.” Draco practically growled. He said the Dark Lord as a habit because his godfather Severus was trapped as a spy for both sides and it hurt him to hear the word Voldemort. The Malfoy family had remained neutral in the war, like most of the older families and the Zabinis.

***

Harry sat up from where he’d been leaning on Draco and asked, “Can I tell this next part?” 

“Of course.” Draco said indulgently, watching his mate jump in excitement.

“Well…” Harry said mischievously, “When we went to Gringotts, I found out that not only was my mom a pureblood, but that I was a lord five times over and heir to the house of Black, and that I’m a water elf.”

“We also found out something much darker.” Draco added, taking back over from Harry. “Dumbledore has been using loyalty and compulsion spells on Harry. So has Molly Weasley. And Ginny has been using a love potion.”

There was silence for a moment as everyone comprehended the massive amount of world-changing things they’d just heard, and then, “What!?” 

“No way!” 

“Harry, are you okay?”

“Bloody hell, no wonder you wanted us to sneak out!”

The last came from the Weasley twins, who finally seemed to realize why they couldn’t let the rest of the family know where they were going.

“Can we see your powers?” Neville asked.

“Yeah, sure!” Harry replied enthusiastically, happy to show off the tricks he had been practicing. He bounced up out of his seat and pulled Neville over to the waterfall, bending down and twirling a finger. He plucked a delicate flower up out the azure water and gave it to Neville, laughing at his surprised expression when the flower kept its form. 

“He can only have things keep their shape for a little while so far, so you might want to put it down before you get soaked.” Draco added wryly, watching his little elf giggle with his friend.

Neville hastily put it down in the water again, and said thoughtfully, “Harry, I wonder…. Maybe we could test out our powers together, since I’ve got an earth inheritance. You could come over to Longbottom Manor sometime and work in the garden with me if you want.”

“I’d love that!” Harry told him, before glancing at Draco. “Uh, so I thought we might want to come up with a plan for what to do about everything.”

Draco thought for a moment. “You mean what to do about Dumb-door. Yeah, we should brainstorm and come up with something. He’s bound to try and manipulate everything back to how the old coot wants it.”

“Can the planning involve pranks?” Fred and George asked cheerfully.

“Oh, definitely.” Harry replied, grinning.

“Then we’re in!” they exclaimed in unison.

***

Harry also found the time during their planning session to ask Pansy about Draco’s owl. It turned out to be named Goldfish and Pansy revealed that Draco refused to call it that and instead insisted on using the nickname Goldy.

Meanwhile, Draco cornered the Weasley twins and demanded to know what they were talking about earlier with the bars and flying cars. They revealed that they had gone to rescue Harry and had needed to pull the bars off of his window in order to get him out. Both insisted that they thought the bars were the only thing and if they had even suspected there was anything worse going on they would have gotten him out of there immediately.


	9. Special Chapter: An Artful Weasley Prank

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the special chapter requested by a reader of the original story that never happened before! Hope you enjoy <3

The Weasley twins exchanged a look before slipping off from where their mother was berating Charlie via floo over some trivial thing. It was the perfect chance to prepare a prank. They had to get some revenge for Harrikins, after all. It infuriated them to know what part of their family had been doing these last few years. They rummaged through their secret stash of original prank items and a silver box caught their eye. That would be perfect!

An hour and some sneaking around later, Fred and George high fived and went to clean themselves up so no one would suspect anything and also because they didn’t really feel like participating in their own prank. Part of it was fun enough but the other part wouldn’t be pleasant.

That evening, it wasn’t long after the family had finished dinner when a scream came from Ginny upstairs, having seen herself in a mirror for the first time in an hour. She was soon joined by the yelling of Ron and screeching of Molly. Ginny came running down the stairs, furious, with her hair a beautiful shade of emerald green and silver and white colored skin.

“What? You don’t like it?” The twins said mock-sadly. “But the green is just the shade of dear Harrikins eyes. What a waste of perfectly good work.” They dodged a bat-bogey hex and escaped upstairs, cackling. Just wait until the itching powder kicked in.


	10. Special Chapter: Snape Storytime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to double post this time because I felt mean for giving you two special chapters in a row without a longer chapter.

Draco hurried down the stairs holding his candy. He’d been visiting Hogwarts and Madam Pomfrey had given him some sweets for helping brew some potions for her medicine closet this summer. 

He was almost at the bottom when he suddenly came face to face with a very surprised looking Snape. He lost his balance, flailing backwards before his wings shot out to steady him. 

Unfortunately, Snape was in the way and got smacked by one as Draco caught his balance, smiling when he saw his candy was still alright.

At least, he was smiling until he looked up and saw the look on Snape’s face….  
“Mr. Malfoy, I will accept half of your sweets as payment for hitting me in the face with your wings. You can also come join me in my office while we talk about properly controlling your wings.”

“Sorry, Severus…” Draco reluctantly handed over part of his candy, shoulders slumped in defeat and followed his godfather down to the dungeons.


	11. Chapter Nine

Harry was sitting outside in the garden by himself one morning when he felt a dark and velvety presence appear in his mind. Startled, he straightened up only to relax again somewhat when he realized what, or rather who, it was.

**Hello, Master. How are you faring? I will most likely not come to you in your waking hours again, but instead meet with you in your dreams to teach you.** Death’s voice said, sounding silky smooth.

“Oh, hello Death. I am doing much better. I would like to ask how I became Master of Death and what exactly this means.” He responded aloud, playing with the hem of his shirt.

Death laughed, a sound like swords clashing and bells ringing.  **There is no need to speak aloud, Master. I am in your mind, you have only to direct your thoughts towards me.**

_ Err okay _ , Harry responded awkwardly, wondering if he’d have to ask again or not. He wasn’t sure what kind of a person? Deity? Being? Death was. 

Thankfully, Death continued soon after,  **Ah, well, you became the Master of Death when you defeated the Elder Wand’s previous owner, yes, you know who I mean. You had already interacted with the Resurrection Stone in the Gaunt Ring and the Cloak of course you had for many years. Not just anyone who had interacted with and claimed mastery of the three hallows could become Master of Death however. You are a Peverell, which makes you uniquely able to claim this honor. You can choose to be immortal or pass on at a time of your choosing and allow another descendant of yours to take the title.**

“Wait, immortal?” Harry exclaimed, speaking out loud once more in his shock.

Death made a noise of what the teen assumed must be affirmation.  **Yes, but you can always just live a long and happy life and pass away at a normal age if you choose. You might also want to know that as your mate, Draco is able to live alongside you as long as you wish to live. He cannot command me but shares in your powers for this.** The being said.

_ Thank you for this information. I have much to think about.  _ Harry said, pausing after a moment.  _ Shall I call my mate to do the Vow? You will have to instruct me as I do not possess the knowledge necessary to cast one.  _ He asked uncertaintly.

**Yes, that will be good. Bring him back here to this bench and I will tell you what to do next.** Death responded.

Quickly, Harry went and found Draco sitting in the sunroom reading. He convinced the blonde to come with him outside and the pair settled on the bench. There was a swirl of dark feathers next to them and then Draco shivered from an unnatural chill as Death manifested nearby. 

The blonde stared at the being in shock and then looked back at Harry. “What-” he managed to choke out.

“ **Heir Malfoy. I require an Unbreakable Vow of you. You must swear to your mate never to reveal this information to another person. The punishment for breaking such a vow is Death, however as I will be the binder, I am curious to see how that might affect it. Unfortunately, or I guess fortunately for you two, it most likely won’t ever be broken. Shame, I do love a good experiment.”** The cloaked being trailed off, staring wistfully into the distance for a moment before shaking their head and turning back to the two. 

Shaking a little, Draco nervously extended his hand to clasp Harry’s and Death completed the vow, a red light with an odd black glow binding their hands together before vanishing as the vow was finished. His fingers tingled a bit as the glowing threads absorbed into his skin.

Harry found that his hand was tingling a bit as well and shook it out before turning to Death. “Right, shall we explain now, then?”

***

Draco took the news fairly well, though he needed some time to process. It would have been a shock for anyone, so Harry just smiled and gave Draco some space to let the information settle in his mind. Soon enough, the veela returned and gave Harry a hug, leading to the two cuddling together and falling asleep in warm sunlight beams through the window. Unfortunately, this peaceful sleep was not to last. 

Draco jolted awake and looked around, trying to figure out where the noise that had woken him up had come from. Another cry sounded and he realized it was coming from Harry, who was curled up in a ball on the floor, sobbing. He was repeating “Please, I’ll be good.” and rocking back and forth, trying to suppress the sounds with his hand over his mouth.

Carefully, the veela approached his mate, moving slowly and cautiously. He managed to calm Harry down and figured out that the elf had been having a nightmare about the Dursleys. Once he had gotten Harry to relax some more, though his breathing was still unsteady and he clung tightly to Draco’s hand, Draco brought Harry down to Lucius’s study and showed him some information his father had dug up on them. Apparently, Vernon had been stealing money from his company, which they could use, anonymously of course, to get him fired. It turned out that the Dursleys' house was also being paid for with the money that should’ve been going towards Harry’s care, so stopping those payments could have them lose their house.

These ideas were approved by Harry and went forward, achieving success above what they’d assumed. Both Petunia and Vernon ended up facing jail time, as the child protection services came down hard on their case, while Dudley was shipped off to live with a foster family after Marge had been found to be illegally running dog fights. And well, if Draco chose to rough up Vernon and Petunia a bit, Harry turned a blind eye, allowing Lucius to heal their physical injuries and leave the pain. He wasn’t going to try and deny his mate retribution as was his right as a veela.

Having the Dursleys dealt with felt like a weight off Harry’s shoulders. He no longer was constantly looking over his shoulder and worrying that Dumbledore would manage to force him to return or that they might come after him. It was cathartic to watch from under a disillusionment with the Malfoys as muggle police arrived at Privet Drive and arrested the Dursleys while their neighbors all stood and watched. Though he hadn’t completely healed his non-physical wounds from them, this certainly assisted in Harry’s progress and he was more than happy to just forget about them as best he could and move on with his life.


	12. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus update cause I'm nice like that ;) This is quite a lengthy one as well, hang on its a crazy ride <3
> 
> You'll still get a chapter tomorrow as well

The day of Harry’s 16th birthday dawned warm and sunny. He woke to find several changes. Firstly, it was odd getting out of bed as he was now taller, though unsure of his exact height, Harry estimated it was probably around the same as Draco. When he got up, he felt longer hair brush against his neck, and when he looked in the mirror, could see that it was down to his shoulders and amazingly straight and smooth, showing no signs of the untameable hair from the day before. 

_ Now that is one thing I can get behind.  _ He thought in excitement. He examined himself in the mirror quickly, wanting to get downstairs to breakfast and Draco as soon as possible. His eyes were still green, but now it was more of a forest green than the neon shade of before. His eyelashes were dark and long, making him look more delicate in a way. His inheritance hadn’t been able to fix all the damage from his relatives, but he didn’t need glasses to see anymore and his height was not stunted any longer. His ears were also more delicate and pointed at the ends.

Tying his hair back with an elastic he requested from one of the house elves, Harry practically skipped downstairs. He went into the dining room and saw all three of the malfoy’s were already there.

“Good morning!” He called cheerfully, having become comfortable in the Manor and able to be more of himself than quiet and uncertain.

Draco looked up then and it was a good thing he’d already put down that glass that had been in his hand a moment ago, because he would’ve dropped it at the sight of Harry. The blonde’s eyes widened and he blatantly checked him out before smiling and returning Harry’s greeting. 

“As you’ve already been to Gringotts, we don’t need to do that for your inheritance, however you might want to read over the test again to see what powers you have. That way, you won’t be caught off guard and can begin working on controlling them before you have to return to Hogwarts.” Lucius informed him with a kind smile. Harry had kept using Lady and Lord Malfoy either out of nervousness or his ingrained need to be polite, and Cissa had put her foot down and insisted he call her that, while Lucius and told him he would like it if Harry called him Papa. The older blonde reassured the teen that he didn’t want to replace Harry’s parents, but if Harry wanted, he would try his best to be another one.

The group finished breakfast and then went to collect Harry’s inheritance test and give it a read over. A lot had changed since Harry had now been purged, as the test was bound to Harry’s blood and magic and automatically updated itself. The part they were currently interested in now said, Creature: Water Elf - elemental power over water, resistance to love potions, and sense muddling spells and potions, while Blocks, Spells, and Potions Influencing read: None, tap twice for list of past items.

Harry did this and the words appeared below.

Love potion forcing affection to Ginny Weasley (cleared by goblin purging)

Loyalty spell performed by Molly Weasley and keyed to Molly Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley (cleared by goblin purging)

Compulsion spell (unknown) cast by albus dumbledore (cleared by goblin purging, compelled to be sorted into anywhere but Slytherin)

Memory block (unknown) performed by Albus Dumbledore (cleared by goblin purging, memory blocked twice of prophecy and Severus Snape’s apology, returned in sleep after purging)

Loyalty spell performed by Albus Dumbledore and keyed to Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix (cleared by goblin purging)

Magical core block performed by Albus Dumbledore (75%) (cleared by goblin purging)

Vessel of Horcrux (age 1, killing curse) (removed by goblin purging and destroyed by Fiendfyre)

Reading though this list, he was shocked at several things.  _ Severus apologized to me? And I just appeared to ignore it and continue hating him. No wonder we couldn’t stand each other, it was being magically forced.  _ Continuing to scan the paper, he cleared his throat and looked to Lucius. 

“Papa, it says that Dumbledore blocked my memory of a prophecy. I can remember it now, but I don’t-” Just thinking about what had happened was sending him into a panic attack. 

A warm presence enveloped him and he came back to himself to find that Draco had scooped him up into his lap and was holding him securely, enfolded in his wings and arms. Leaning against Draco’s chest, Harry gave his mate a thankful look and curled up comfortably.

“We have a pensieve which we can use to view the memory if it is triggering for you.” Cissa offered.

Harry agreed and the three Malfoys watched his memory. He was in the headmaster’s office and Dumbledore told him the prophecy, expecting him to act one way, but instead Harry said that he didn’t want to be part of the war, didn’t believe in prophecies anyways, and to pretty much fuck off. Evidently, Dumbledore didn’t like hearing that and smacked Harry before blocking the memory. 

Memory Harry was slumped in his chair and looked at Dumbledore in confusion. ‘Headmaster?’ he asked.

‘You fell on the floor and hit your head’ Dumbledore lied and told Harry that’s what his injury was from and that his mind might feel a bit odd, but that was just from hitting his head and he would be fine. ‘There’s no need to go to the hospital wing, my boy. Now, off you go’ 

The memory faded and the Malfoys were very angry. Lucius paced the room rapidly, enraged. How dare that disgusting piece of garbage lay a hand on Harry. 

Cissa was more focused on the prophecy itself. “It’s almost certainly self-fulfilling if it even is real, so if you are able to become neutral in the war, you should have no issues. It isn’t a problem that needs to be fixed right away certainly, let me and Lucius work on it. Now, it’s your birthday, so why don’t we go and open your presents.” she said.

Draco led Harry by the hand to a new room he hadn’t been in before. There was a decent size pile of presents on a table by the window and Draco pulled Harry into his lap again when the brunette tried to sit down in his own chair. 

“I really love your new hair.” Draco told him, playing with the small tail of said hair.

Harry blushed and thanked him before getting distracted by his presents when Cissa started handing them to him. There was one from every one of his friends who had come to the meeting, along with several small things like candy from Draco’s friends. He wasn’t sure if the Weasleys or anyone had attempted to send him something, but assumed if they had, it contained potions or something and was removed.

Lucius and Cissa had gotten him a new wardrobe of wizarding clothes, both casual and formal, that would grow with him magically to be the right size and he gave them each a hug. The weasley twins had sent him some of the new items from their shop, along with a letter that as their investor, he had access to free products and that they hoped he’d use these for good purposes like pranking Ron and making Dumbledore’s life miserable. Luna sent him a pretty shell necklace, while Neville sent him a plant with instructions on how to care for it. Charlie and Bill sent him some books and a box of interesting geodes. 

In the end, his personal favorite was Draco’s gift. It actually came in two parts, the first of which was a cute brief kiss that had his parents cooing. The second part was a stunning silvery necklace with a small green stone and one of Draco’s feathers attached. Draco explained that his Veela wanted to claim Harry as his mate by adding one of the feathers to the necklace, which originally only had the stone. It also had Draco’s magical signature attached to it, which told other creatures and wixen that he was taken. Harry put it on immediately, preening inwardly at the look Draco gave him, and decided never to take it off, he liked it so much.

The house-elves insisted on taking the rest of his presents up to his room for him, so he relented and allowed them to take them. They also gifted him some treacle tart and he thanked them happily before enjoying his favorite treat.

The rest of the day was spent mostly outside, working on his new powers. It was a lot easier to do things with water now, and there was a larger variety of other things like communicating with water-dwelling creatures and changing its form from liquid to solid or gas.

***

At the end of the day, Draco asked Harry if he wanted to share a room with him from now on. Harry agreed enthusiastically, wanting to cuddle with his mate at night and also knowing being near Draco would soothe him in his sleep.

The two got ready for bed and then Draco pulled Harry on top of him again and said seriously, “We need to mark each other now. It’s important because you have come into your inheritance fully, before we had a limited bond but we have to complete it now or it could harm us.”

Blushing, Harry stammered out, “How exactly do we mark each other?” 

“Err, we have to bite each other, but it's magical so it doesn’t hurt and heals immediately.” Draco explained, blushing a little himself at the thought of what Harry had probably assumed. 

“Would you like me to go first?” The blonde asked.

“Yes, thanks.” Harry looked down at his hands shyly. 

Draco gently took hold of his chin and lifted it so they could look into each others’ eyes. “Be still, please. I want to make the mark neatly.”

Placing a kiss on Harry’s neck where he was going to mark him, Draco enjoyed his mate’s little shiver before leaning in and carefully biting down, his teeth elongating specially for this. Four tiny puncture marks appeared with beads of crimson for a second before it shimmered and faded to a scar.

It was Harry’s turn now and the elf shyly held into Draco’s shoulders, biting down softly. The mark shimmered and became a scar and they gasped a bit at the feeling as their bond became complete. Before Harry’s birthday, the two had felt drawn to each other and had a vague emotional connection. They had called each other their mate and unconsciously did things because of their instincts. That paled in comparison to what they had now. The pair could support each other energy and magic wise, instinctively know their mate’s location, share thoughts and emotions, and could sense ill-intent of potions and spells. They could also feel when their mates were injured or sick.

The pair shared another brief kiss before curling up together and falling asleep, exhausted from their fun but tiring day. As Draco drifted off, he thought about his mate and how he wanted to make sure Harry was ready before they did anything more than kiss. Consent was very important to Veela, and thankfully their mates were immune to their allure, so they could be sure it was truly their mate’s choice when they did move on in their relationship.

***

Harry opened his eyes and blinked in surprise when he realized he was in a different place than the one he’d fallen asleep in. He was sitting on a rock by the ocean, surrounded by crashing waves and shrieking sea-birds. A presence beside him made him turn to see Death sitting there, for once not in a cloak. Instead, they were wearing a nice suit. Harry couldn’t make out their features and trying to do so was giving him a headache so he gave up.

“ **Happy Birthday, Master.”** Death said, grinning like a skull, but in a friendly way.

“ _ Thank you, Death. I’m assuming this is a dream meeting for lessons?” _ Harry replied.

Death nodded. “ **Yes. I wish to instruct you in the knowledge and powers of the Master of Death. I’m quite looking forward to this. I’ve had a lesson plan prepared for centuries. It needed some updating, but it’s all ready now.”**

Harry was really starting to like Death. “ _ Nice. What’s planned for tonight then?” _

Death smiled again. “ **I thought I’d introduce you to one of my favorite creations. Thestrals. They can only be seen by those who’ve seen death, but as you’ve seen Death, I think you have that particular requirement more than covered.”**

Harry had to laugh at that. Who knew Death had a good sense of humor?

The sound of hooves came along the beach and a herd of skeletal horses with wings emerged from the fog. They were inky black in color. The thestrals stopped in front of the two and Death rummaged in their suit pocket for a moment before pulling out a large bucket of blood. 

“ **There we go.”** Death said, putting the bucket down on the ground. “ **Share that, properly, now, or no extra meat privileges for a week and I’ll have the reapers clean out your stalls by hand. They need a punishment for slacking off on their paperwork anyways.”**

The thestrals seemed to side-eye Death for a moment, before lining up in an orderly fashion and enjoying their ration of blood. While they did this, Death told Harry more about the thestrals and also produced a small cupcake for the teen.

“ **Made it myself.”** The being said proudly, presenting it to him.

Thankfully, Death turned out to be an amazing baker and Harry thanked them profusely after enjoying the treat.They spent a few hours with the thestrals and then Death sent him off to get some rest.

****

Several days after Harry’s birthday, a self-righteous looking Umbridge called two dementors to where she stood on the sharp rocks of Azkaban’s landing dock. She tried to order the dementors to Little Whinging, where she had found that disgusting liar Harry Potter lived during the summer, and they nodded mockingly, floating away to pretend to go complete their so-called assignment. Unfortunately for Umbridge, the dementors followed the orders of a higher power and they knew better than to attempt harm to their lord Death’s young Master. Besides, the boy wasn’t even in the location she wanted them to go to. It was a nice excuse for a brief vacation though, they hadn’t had a day off in years.

Umbridge was disappointed the next day when there was no news about anything happening to Harry Potter, instead there was a headline about two dementors who had randomly appeared at one of the beaches in Scotland and frightened wizarding tourists. A shocked witness who was interviewed said they’d been wearing sunglasses and built a sand castle in front of her very eyes, but most people assumed it was just lies told to get attention. Those at the beach all knew the truth, however. Umbridge was furious but was unable to find the time or the correct dementors to punish since they looked identical to her, so instead dropped it, assured she could still punish Potter during the school year.


	13. Special Chapter - Marshmallows

It was only a few weeks until it was time to go back to Hogwarts. Harry felt the need to introduce the Malfoys to marshmallows and so bribed the house elves with special chocolate they really liked but couldn’t get often in order for them to collect some s’mores supplies for him. 

He corralled the family outside and led them to the firepit, where there was a cheerful blaze going, courtesy of Mipsy. Handing each of them a toasting stick and a marshmallow, he showed them how to cook one properly over the fire, having to help Lucius as he kept catching his on fire. 

Eventually, all of them had a roasted marshmallow and he constructed them each s’mores before settling down with his to enjoy their reactions. Draco let out a sound that was definitely not PG, while Cissa ate hers daintily but was definitely enjoying it and questioned Harry on how often muggles ate them. Lucius’ s’more vanished within three bites and then he proceeded to whine a bit before Cissa threw another marshmallow at him, hitting him in the face. Amazing, Lucius managed to catch it after that and they all burst out laughing.

Hedwig and Goldy took the time to flirt a bit while they watched their wizards from a nearby tree. Draco caught sight of this and made a face, commenting that it felt like he was watching his kids flirting or something. While meant as a joke, this caused both Harry and Draco to turn bright red for a while as their thoughts turned towards having kids.

The evening concluded with a small group of satisfied Malfoys wandering back up to the Manor with Harry half-asleep on Draco’s shoulder.


	14. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another double update!

Soon, it was time for school shopping. The boys had both gotten their letters for that year’s supplies the day before and so it was time to venture into Diagon Alley. Draco had gotten a prefect badge with his letter and Harry was quite proud of his mate and so were Lucius and Narcissa. By now, Harry’s scar had faded to the point it had practically vanished, so along with his changed appearance, Harry doubted he would be recognized. He was still a little nervous about this though. What if someone tried to take him away from the Malfoys?

They had still come about a week before most families did for school supplies, so it wasn’t as crowded. But still enough people that could notice him and tell Dumbledore and the Prophet and then they’d try to take him away from his mate and- Draco pulled Harry protectively closer to him, sensing his spiraling thoughts through their bond.

“Don’t worry, love. They can’t legally do anything.” He murmured quietly, reassuring his mate. 

The group made their way into the Apothecary, the last stop of the day. Lucius helped them find fresh ingredients, having picked up some tricks from Severus, and they paid for their purchases.

Harry thought they would floo back to the Manor now, but instead they led him down a side alley into Knockturn, weaving through suspicious and dodgy looking people, all the while keeping him protected in the middle of them, until they arrived at a pet store.

“A gift for you.” Cissa told him, cutting off his protests. “You need all the help you can get, and a familiar certainly isn’t going to hurt your chances. Only certain pets are allowed at Hogwarts, but it’s in the charter that all familiars must be allowed, so Dumbledore can’t do anything.”

Harry let himself be pulled into the story by Draco. They explored the large room, pointing out interesting animals. They’d discovered quite a few rare and borderline illegal creatures before Harry heard something.

_ Ssstupid humans. All they do is wave twigs around and chant silly words. Us sssnakes are superior by far. I’ll get out of here and be free. Oh, why, must I languish here with people who don’t appreciate me.  _

Harry looked around, confused. “Who sssaid that?” He asked, walking away from where Draco was absorbed in watching a kneazle to follow the sound.

He found a large tank in one corner, with a beautifully colored snake coiled up inside. It was dark with scales that shimmered with rainbow iridescence as it moved to look up at him.

_ A speaker! What a sssurprise. I thought they were only a nursery tale, told to me and my nestmates before I was taken away.  _ It hissed.

“Would you like to come with me?” He asked, looking down at it in fascination.

_ Oh, yesss please. To be with someone who finally appreciates me! I would love to come with you, speaker.  _ The snake looped around itself in circles in excitement.

“Do you have a name?” Harry asked.

_ No, you must find me some good ones. I will choose my own, of course.  _ It replied. 

Harry laughed. “Of course. Now, let’s get out of here.” 

He picked up the snake’s tank and carried it over to where the Malfoys were standing, talking with the shop owner about a rare colored lizard of some sort.

“I’d like to get this snake, if you don’t mind.” He said shyly, still unused to being able to choose what he wanted to do and buy.

“Of course, dear.” Cissa said, smiling.

The shopkeeper peered at the tank for a moment and said, “Ah, good choice. That there is the Formosan odd-scaled snake. They’re harmless to humans and enjoy a good frog and other small animals. That species is nocturnal.” He moved to check a list of some kind before returning to the counter. “That will be 12 galleons.”

Lucius handed over the golden coins and the family made their way out of the shop. Harry removed the snake from its tank, letting it drape itself over his shoulders. It was about two feet long and slim, so it wasn’t too heavy.

_ Who are these humans? Are they your nestmates? _ The snake asked, tongue flickering out.

**_The youngest one is my mate and the other two are his parents._ ** Harry replied.

Next to him, Draco, who was holding the tank, shivered a bit at the sound of his mates hisses and Harry registered his feeling of arousal with amusement, filing that information away for later. The group flooed home and the young mates vanished up to their room to get the snake settled.


	15. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A triple update? Idk but enjoy <3

Back at the Manor, Draco led Harry back to their room and they placed the Elf’s new snake down, where it promptly coiled up and fell asleep, being nocturnal as the shopkeeper had said. They had gotten supplies for it and set everything up quickly with the help of a few house-elves.  
Once that was done, Draco went over to a drawer and pulled out a small green box, returning to sit next to Harry on the bed. Handing it to his mate, the blonde smiled at him. “This was meant to be a birthday present as well from our family as a whole, but it was not ready in time.”  
Harry opened it curiously, finding a stunning silver bracelet set. There were tiny runes and decorations engraved on the metal surface, making it an intricately detailed piece.  
“What is it?” Harry asked his mate with wide eyes.  
“It is a promise bracelet for the two of us, that we’ll support and protect each other. It has protective runes on it that prevent it from being removed by anyone other than one of us of our free will and will shield and alert us about spells, potions, and runes being used on us. We can also communicate through them by pressing the upraised button in the middle and saying a password.” Draco explained, taking Harry’s arm so he could place one of the metal bands on his wrist, before extending his own so his mate could do the same. The bracelets magically resized themselves to fit snugly but comfortably on their arms.  
“That’s amazing! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Harry launched himself into Draco’s lap and hugged him tightly.  
“The password for the magical phone aspect of the bracelets is ‘verus amor’.” The blonde told his mate.  
Harry’s eyes lit up after a moment. “Oh, that’s true love in latin, right?” He said, smiling adorably at the veela.  
“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind.” Draco replied, feeling shy.  
“No, I think it’s cute!” He told Draco.   
“I’m glad you like it. I also will be taking you out later on a date, little one.” Draco whispered. He had found himself calling Harry that a lot recently, as part of their bond, and since Harry didn’t seem to mind, he’d given up on trying to avoid using it. “I thought you might want to spend your birthday with the family, so I waited until now and made sure everything would be perfect.”  
Feeling bold, Harry gave Draco a peck on the cheek and darted off of his lap shyly, cheeks pink Draco watched with a hand absently covering his cheek, smiling the entire time.  
“Anything else you wanted to do today?” Draco asked.  
“Can you help me come up with good names for my snake? It wants to choose its own.” Harry explained, playing with his hair.   
“Sure.” Draco thought for a moment. “It would mostly depend on the gender, but what about Draconis, Vanandi, which is latin for hunter, or… hmm… Ethas? Those are all primarily male names.”  
***  
Harry liked the look on Draco’s face when he was deep in thought. It made him look serious, but not emotionless like he sometimes did when he was surrounded by rude or noisy people.  
“Let me ask it.” He said, walking over to where the snake lay curled up napping. “Are you awake?” He hissed down to it, “I just realized I don’t know your gender, and that would be helpful in coming up with names.”  
Yesss, I am male. The snake responded, head raising to look at him.   
“My mate hasss come up with three; Draconis, Vanadi, and Ethas.” Harry said.  
Hmm, the snake mused, I think I like Vanadi. Hunter it means. I will be called Vanadi.  
“Okay, Vanadi. I have to leave with my mate now, but I will be back later.” Harry nodded, smiling at his snake.  
Farewell, speaker. Vanadi hissed.  
“He likes the name Vanadi.” Harry told Draco, who was looking slightly, er, flustered at him speaking Parseltongue. “Oh, come on, Draco, you’ll get used to it eventually. Now, I heard something about a date earlier?”  
Draco laughed. “Oh, yes, little one. We need to start getting ready.”


	16. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forget the posting schedule, I can't wait that long. Instead, view the Weds and Sat schedule as the minimum of posting for the week.
> 
> *trips*  
> *dumps 5 chapters into Ao3*  
> Whoops?

Harry held tightly to his mate’s arm as they stepped through the floo. Even after years of practice, he was unable to retain his balance and stumbled constantly. The support allowed him to remain standing for once, though slightly unsteady, and after he stopped feeling dizzy, Harry looked around. A very tall and recognizable tower could be spotted in the distance, towering above trees and buildings with arches and decorated sides.

It was a very exciting experience for him, as he hadn’t been out of the country before. He glanced over at Draco, tearing his eyes away from the captivating sights of the city. “Is this Paris?”

Draco nodded, smiling at his enthusiastic mate. “Yes, little one. We’re going to have lunch here. I thought of going somewhere fancy, but I don’t think you would enjoy it as much, so we’re going to eat in the Eiffel Tower instead.” Draco replied.

Harry practically bounced in excitement, holding onto the Veela’s hand as the blonde led him through the busy streets. He’d always wanted to go explore another country, but the Dursleys had always left him behind with Mrs. Figg, who showed him endless pictures of her horde of cats and asked him weird questions, when they went on vacation. He’d mentioned her once in conversation with Cissa and apparently she worked for Dumbledore, so he felt uncomfortable now realizing that she had most likely been trying to figure out how much abuse he’d been put through at the time to report back to the old coot about his little weapon.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts as someone almost ran into him, and shrank into himself, tucking his small frame closer to Draco, who was careful to make sure no one else got so close to him.

They made it to the Eiffel Tower soon after, and went up the stairs to the second floor, where they found their reserved table and sat down. Draco helped Harry with the menu, as it was in French, and they ordered a variety of different foods Harry wanted to try. They also received a complimentary plate of macaroons from a kind waiter who had overheard them talking about Harry’s birthday.

***

When they were finished eating, Draco took Harry up to the top and they looked out quietly at the sprawling streets of Paris below. They were in the non-magical area, so that was why Draco had insisted Harry wear clothes that could pass as muggle, as best as he could without ruining the surprise.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when Harry said, “This has been a lovely summer, Draco. Thank you so much for rescuing me from my horrible relatives. I just wish it didn’t have to end. I… I’m planning on asking McGonagall for a resort when we return to school, because the Gringotts goblins sent me a letter saying the magic of Hogwarts itself had made a request for me to do so, because of Dumbledore’s compulsion spells.” The brunette looked anxiously at him, as if he was concerned Draco would be upset.

“No matter what house you are in, it doesn’t change how I feel about you, little one. It would be lovely if you were in Slytherin, though.” Draco replied, wanting to soothe his mate’s doubts and worries.

“The hat wanted to sort me into Slytherin the first time, but I argued with it to put me in Gryffindor, I’m assuming because of the compulsions. I’m sure the hat will be only too happy to sort me as a snake this time.” Harry gave a laugh.

Draco smiled, hugging Harry briefly. “Well, let’s head back, Harry. I’m sure Vanadi wants to spend some time with you today as well.” Neither of the two noticed was that there were two suspiciously familiar owls wearing trench coats and dark as death sunglasses following them and had been the entire time. The aforementioned dark as Death™ sunglasses had in fact been made for them by a certain bored deity, who wanted the challenge of trying to create sunglasses for owls.

***

The two were laying on their bed, with Vanadi draped lazily over Harry’s back, when Lucius came into their room. He had been writing letters to various creatures and water elves he knew, trying to find a mentor for Harry, and had just received a reply back from one. 

“Harry, one of the water elves I owled has agreed to be your mentor. It all works out rather nicely as well, as she lives at Hogwarts. Her name is Darya and she is the mate of Severus, who is a vampire. It will be up to you two to figure out where and when you would like to meet.” The older blonde said, passing a piece of parchment to Harry.

The dark-haired elf looked down at it, seeing that it was a letter written to him by Darya. Her handwriting was neat and elegant. In the letter, she told him some basic information about herself and also wrote that she had sent a two-way notebook for them to communicate in.

Harry looked up from the paper and asked, “Darya said she sent a notebook?”

Lucius nodded and handed him a forest green colored book. “It should only open for you once you key it to your magic. Darya already did the linking magic so all you have to do is push some magic through your finger when you touch the lock.” 

Examining the notebook closer, Harry spotted a small blue-green circle on the front and placed his thumb on top, sending a small surge of power through it and into the book. There was a chime and then the book glowed gold and blue for a moment before fading.

“All set.” Draco said, leaning curiously on Harry’s shoulder to look down at the book. “I have one like that, you know. It’s not connected though, just a private journal.” The blonde poked his mate’s shoulder playfully. “Darya’s cool. I’ve met her a couple of times when Severus came for holidays and such. I think you’ll get along well.”

Harry hummed in agreement, thanking Lucius before placing the book on the table by the bed. He turned towards his mate and pouted. “Cuddles?”

Draco laughed, dying a little at how adorable his little elf was. “Cuddles.” He briefly kissed Harry before wrapping his arms around the elf like a cuddly octopus. 


	17. Chapter Fourteen

The day of their return to Hogwarts came rapidly and soon Harry found himself walking nervously out the floo at Platform 9 ¾ , this time managing not to stumble at all. He was surrounded by the Malfoy’s, who were very effectively acting like a human shield against anyone who might try to get near him, good intentions or otherwise. Draco walked on his right, holding his hand protectively. The young Veela’s wings were tucked away.

The previous morning, Harry had asked Lucius about Rita Skeeter who had been slandering his reputation all summer, and after he remembered that the reporter was illegally a beetle animagus, Lucius promised to deal with her. At breakfast today, the Malfoy patriarch had given a nod and smile to the dark-haired teen, confirming that he had dealt with Skeeter.

They made it onto the train without incident, saying their goodbyes to Draco’s parents quickly, as longer ones had already occurred earlier that morning. Narcissa tugged them both into a brief hug, releasing them with a smile before vanishing back into the crowd with Lucius. Harry and Draco met up with Neville, Luna, Blaise, Theo, Pansy, and the Weasley twins, managing to squeeze into one compartment. It was a bit of a tight fit since usually compartments were meant for four students, not nine. They made it work, settling down with the twins, Theo, and Neville on the floor and Harry curled on Draco’s lap. Everyone’s luggage had been shrunk and tucked in pockets, while owls had flown ahead to the castle and any other pets were safely in magical carriers that the owls had taken with them, including Vanadi. Only certain pets were allowed at Hogwarts by decree of the Headmaster, but the charter made it so all familiars were welcome. The group tried to relax, but couldn’t quite shake the tense mood in the compartment, recognizing the emotionally tiring day ahead of them.

Harry was laying against Draco’s shoulder and reading one of his textbooks when the compartment door was suddenly flung open, startling everyone. Luna dropped her butterbeer corks on the floor and scrambled to pick them up, assisted by the four boys sitting down there.

Ginny, Ron, and Hermione stood in the doorway, sneering at the Slytherins. The redheaded boy was in the middle of eating some chocolate frogs and his hands and face were a mess. 

“Harry, I’m so glad we’ve found you! It was terrifying to hear you’d been kidnapped from your loving family this summer!” Ginny said in what was probably supposed to be a flirtatious tone, blinking rapidly in Harry’s direction. The boy in question shrank back against his mate, trembling slightly. 

“We’re here to rescue you now! We’ll get you out of here and then we can start helping you get better. I’m sure Madame Pomfrey would be able to help and Dumbledore too, the kind headmaster he is!” Hermione said, in a way that made Harry believe that the ‘help’ they would give him would be loyalty, compulsion, and tracking spells.

“No, thanks, I like where I am right now.” Harry responded, taking comfort from Draco’s warmth next to him. His book had been abandoned and he was clutching the blonde’s hand for support.The rest of the compartment’s occupants all shifted subtly, preparing in case this turned into a confrontation and got violent.

The trio obviously wasn’t expecting that if the looks on their faces were anything to go by. They also just seemed to have noticed the twins, Neville, and Luna. 

“Oh, no! The Death Eaters kidnapped other Light students too!” Ginny gasped, not seeming to realize that no one in the compartment was being restrained in any way and that they were all staring at her in contempt and amusement.

“I think it’s time for you to leave.” Harry almost growled, his voice soft and dangerous, the sound of a submissive protecting its family.

Even though Hermione, Ron, and Ginny weren’t creatures, they seemed to get the message, and retreated, probably to go plan some nonsense to tell the Headmaster about Death Eater children kidnapping and brainwashing Light students.

“Did you see their faces?!” Pansy burst out suddenly, laughing, “Oh my god, that was one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever seen.” 

The others exchanged relieved smiles and enjoyed the peace of the rest of the train ride, knowing another, more dangerous confrontation would almost certainly happen soon when Harry was resorted.

After a few hours of quiet, during which Draco had to leave for a while for a prefect meeting but returned after not too long, the train arrived at the station and Draco was first off the train of their group, turning around to offer a hand to his mate. Harry smiled fondly at the Veela and took it, carefully climbing down. 

By now, people were staring at him, and Harry rushed up to McGonagall who was standing by the carriages. 

“Professor, I request to be re-sorted. Where should I go?” he asked her.

After a moment of staring at him in surprise and shock, McGonagall shook herself and replied. “Don’t worry, Mr. Potter, just go up to the castle as usual in the carriages, and wait at the Gryffindor table until the first years are sorted. I will call your name and then you will be re-sorted.”

“Okay, thank you, Professor McGonagall.” Harry smiled at her gratefully, and walked with his friends over to a carriage. Their group was large, so they ended up splitting into two carriages, with Harry, Draco, Neville, and Luna in one, and Fred, George, Theo, Pansy, and Blaise in another.

While they were figuring out their carriage arrangements, Harry leaned against one of the carriages and the thestrals reacted in excitement to his presence. In fact, the other carriage’s thestrals seemed to be jealous of the ones next to him. He gave the ones nearby a few pats and promised them he’d go visit the herd in the forest once he was settled in at Hogwarts for the year. One of the ones on his carriage eyed him speculatively. 

Harry rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll bring you some blood. How does cow sound?” The thestral made a sound of approval and the rest of them seemed to be licking their skeletal lips.

They made it to the castle and Harry sat uneasily at the Gryffindor table, not liking being seperated from Draco. Thankfully, Neville was still with him, and glared at pretty much anyone who looked like they were about to approach him. Seamus and Dean sat down across from them and leaned towards Harry. 

Seamus cleared his throat and said quietly. “I just wanted to let you know, I don’t think you’re a liar.”

“Yeah,” Dean added, “Whatever the truth is about everything last year, you're not the one at fault like everybody seems to think for some reason.”

Harry swallowed, not having heard that people believed he was a liar. “Thanks.” He responded just as softly, nodding to his former roommates.

The first years came into the Great Hall, gazing around in awe, led by McGonagall, and were sorted one by one, with the majority going to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor this year. Harry took the time to observe Severus where he was seated near the end of the staff table. The man looked softer and tired than he’d seen before, but it was likely Snape had always been like this and the compulsions had just forced Harry to ignore it.

The dark-haired elf noticed Hermione and Ron staring at him from further down the table, whispering together and glancing his way frequently, and was immensely relieved when McGonagall finally called his name.

Whispers started in the Great Hall, with everyone wondering what Harry had done now, with theories ranging from the fact that Harry was skipping a year of Hogwarts to the ridiculous idea that one 3rd year Gryffindor had about Harry giving an announcement about his engagement to some foreign princess.

“Harry Potter, please come to the dais.” McGonagall repeated, and Harry realized he hadn’t moved from his seat at the Gryffindor table.

Blushing, he stood up and walked to where she was standing, holding the Sorting Hat. As soon as he sat down on the stool, everyone seemed to realize what was going on, and the whispering became a murmur of outrage from the Gryffindors and an excited chatter from the other houses. Dumbledore appeared to be choking on a lemon drop.

Harry didn’t pay any attention to that, however, as he was busy talking to the hat on his head.

“Why, hello again, Mr. Potter. Are you ready to go to Slytherin now?”

“I wanted to...last time… but Dumbledore had compulsion spells on me with aversion to Slytherin and I was forced to argue with you to go to Gryffindor.”

“Well, that’s not the case this time, so Slytherin it is. Slytherin!” The hat shouted, and Harry beamed, handing the hat back to McGonagall, who looked at him with wide eyes.

The Great Hall seemed a moment away from committing mutiny, so Harry hastily made his way to the middle of the Slytherin table, where Draco received him with a hug and murmured, “You did so good, little one.” The rest of the Slytherins in their little group gave him nods and smiles, with Blaise winking and flashing him a thumbs up.

Dumbledore didn’t seem to have any intention of silencing the hall anytime soon, so McGonagall stepped forward and cast a spell. It created a sound that was so high pitched that everyone winced, even McGonagall herself. The chatter cut off abruptly as students and staff alike cried out and covered their ears. Waving her wand again, the noise stopped and everyone gave a sigh of relief.

“Thank you… for silencing the students, Professor.” Dumbledore said reluctantly, knowing he couldn’t betray his mask even now of supporting house unity. “Now, everyone, the Sorting Hat has made its choice and we will be looking into it, to make sure our Chosen One is where he truly belongs, but we must leave it for now. And now… a few words… Wibbly… Nougat… Quibble… Floss.” He sat down, smiling benignly, and the feast that the house elves had prepared for the beginning of term popped onto the tables. Harry gave a snort of disgust at how Dumbledore made it seem as if he conjured all the food from nowhere, not giving credit to those who made it or moved it at all.

Draco stroked his hair soothingly and they, after checking their food with a few quick spells, dug in. The peaceful mood was ruined slightly when a fat lady in pink that looked like a toad interrupted Dumbledore’s speech, but Draco just murmured that they’d talk about it later. 


	18. Chapter Fifteen

After dinner had concluded, Harry followed the sea of Slytherin students behind the prefects as they made their way to the dungeons where the Common Room was located. Having been there before in his second year, Harry already knew the way, but pretended to have no clue where he was anyways. 

The students gathered in the common room, waiting for something. A moment later, what they were waiting for became clear as Professor Snape strode into the room, robes billowing behind him. Now that he wasn’t influenced negatively towards the man any longer, Harry took a moment to admire his presence and wondered if he used a spell to make his cloak do that or if it was just from the way he walked.

Draco snickered from where he was standing next to Harry, having heard his thoughts.  _ It actually isn’t a spell, it’s from his inheritance as a vampire. Ironically, his animagus form is a bat, which I always thought amusing when students called him the Dungeon Bat _ , Harry’s mate replied, projecting his thoughts towards the elf’s mind. 

Harry nodded, interested. The professor was now in the middle of his speech to the first years, half of which looked terrified and the other half looked bored. Tuning back into the conversation, Harry was just in time to hear Snape mention a buddy system in the halls due to the other houses bullying Slytherins, especially the younger years. 

Frowning, Harry tried to remember a time he’d ever seen a Slytherin alone. None came to mind, they always seemed to move in groups. Ron had always sneered at it and said it was because they were cowards, but now he knew the truth. Had Ron been one of the students bullying the Slytherins? What else had he missed during his years here under the compulsions?

Professor Snape finished talking and dismissed the students to their rooms, turning and heading towards what Harry knew from the Marauders Map to be his office. Murmuring a quick explanation of where he was going to Draco, Harry made a beeline towards the door. He caught Snape just before he closed the door and requested to speak with him privately.

The vampire gave him an unreadable look before gesturing for him to follow the teacher into his office. Snape closed the door firmly behind him and cast a couple of privacy spells before whirling around and raising an eyebrow.

“Well, Mr. Potter? What do you need?” He said flatly.

“Err, I just wanted to let you know that I have been under compulsions and potions my whole time here at Hogwarts and I wanted to apologize for my behavior towards you.” Harry stammered, looking shyly at his feet. His long hair fell forward, obscuring his face.

Snape sighed and took a seat. “Mr. Potter, there is nothing to apologize for. You were not in control of your actions. On the other hand, I must apologize for my own treatment of you. I hold a precarious position as a spy and am expected to act certain ways because of it.” The professor looked tiredly towards him.

Harry nodded, understanding what he meant. Draco had explained some over the summer. “I’d like to start over.” the elf said, fidgeting with the hem of his robes. “In private at least, I’m not sure if it would be safe to do so publicly yet.” He added hastily.

“I would like that, though you are correct it would have to be in private. Dumbledore has eyes everywhere in the portraits.” Snape inclined his head. “Please, call me Severus as my godson Draco does. I hope to get to know my young dragon’s mate better.” The vampire looked expectantly at Harry, having scented the mate bond on him as soon as he’d entered the common room next to the Veela.

Harry smiled happily. “Thank you, Severus. Only if you call me Harry then.”

“Alright, Harry.” Severus nodded. Clearing his throat, the vampire leaned back in his chair casually. “I happen to be aware of your previous living conditions as I was the one supplying Narcissa with potions treatments, and if you would ever like to talk about it, I would be willing to listen. My own childhood was not a happy one, personally.” He looked away from Harry almost shyly, long onyx hair tumbling in soft strands across his face.

“Okay, thank you.” Harry said again, nodding and fiddling with his fingers for a moment before he looked up and cleared his throat. “Err, do you think I could meet my mentor Darya this evening? Papa, I mean Lucius, told me she was your mate and stayed at the castle?” He asked.

Nodding curtly, Severus rose from his chair, moving to stand in front of a painting of a beautiful garden. “Follow me then, Harry.” 

Reaching into the frame, Severus frowned in concentration as he did something to the garden’s fountain before extracting his arm just as a click sounded and the wall next to the painting swung inwards, revealing a well-lit passage.

The two walked briskly down the narrow hallway that ended at a large, wooden door decorated with an intricate snake carving. Harry assumed these must be the Head of Slytherin’s quarters.

The door opened and there stood a stunning woman with long pastel green hair. She had silver-blue eyes the color of ice. From her dark brown eyebrows, Harry assumed the hair was dyed instead of being natural. He still didn’t know all that much about magical creatures so nothing was really out of the realm of possibility for his imagination. She was wearing a soft black sweater and black leggings and had bare feet. 

Harry’s eyes lit up and he beamed at her. “Darya! Hi!” 

Darya grinned back at him. “Nice to finally meet you, Harry.” The woman gave Severus a quick kiss on the cheek, who hugged her briefly in return before he excused himself to head back to his office. Apparently, the head of slytherin rarely got much sleep on the first night back, having to deal with homesick children and all sorts of other issues.

Darya watched him go fondly for a moment before turning back to Harry. “Alright, did you get your journal set up?”

“Yeah, I just didn’t know what to write and it wasn’t long before school started anyways.” Harry replied. 

“Okay, well, the main purpose I intended for them was arranging meetings and communicating messages. Do you know anywhere we could meet safely?” The older water elf asked, twirling a lock of her hair idly.

“Not sure, but I can ask my friend Dobby. He’s a house elf.” Harry said after a moment’s contemplation.

Calling Dobby, Harry waited for a second before the excitable elf popped into existence in front of him. 

“Harry called Dobby?” The house elf asked, large eyes staring up at him.

“Yes, thank you for coming. I just wanted to ask if you knew any secret, safe places that I could meet my mentor at Hogwarts?” Harry asked.

“Youse could be using the Come and Go room!” Dobby answered cheerfully. “The house elvsies use it to store broken things. It’s on the seventh floor and youse walk three times back and forth to open a door. It can be anything you wants.” 

Darya smiled at the house elf. “Thank you, Dobby. That is very helpful.”

With a grin and a wave, Dobby popped away again, leaving the two water elves to gaze at one another.

“How about meeting there every Saturday night for lessons?” Harry proposed. During the week he’d have too much work and hopefully he’d be able to sneak out of his dorm room with Draco’s help. 

“Sounds good to me. I have a much more flexible schedule than you, so it should work just fine.” Darya agreed.

The two talked a little longer to plan how they’d meet before parting ways, with Darya vanishing into another room and Harry going back through the passage and past a grumpy, exhausted looking Severus to the Common Room.

Draco was curled up on one of the couches waiting for him, half-asleep and Harry flopped down on top of his tired mate playfully. Draco scrunched his nose up and shoved the elf carefully off of him, sitting up fully.

“You ready to head to bed, then? We’re in a room with Blaise and Theo. It’s the same arrangement as last year, we had an empty bed then.” Draco said, taking Harry’s hand and leading him along to their room.

They got ready for bed and were asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows. It had been a long day and everyone was exhausted.


	19. Chapter Sixteen

The next morning, Harry woke up early, smiling happily at the ceiling. He still struggled with sleeping in until a healthy time due to the years with the Dursleys, but sleepy cuddles in the morning with Draco could only be a good thing.

He padded quietly over to his mate’s bed, sliding under the covers and snuggling into the warm lump of Draco, who was curled up on his side. The Veela shifted, wrapping his arms around Harry’s waist and the elf managed to drift back off to sleep until it was time to get up.

When the alarm Draco had set went off, the group woke up and got ready quickly, packing their bags and getting dressed. Harry would need support when he went into the Great Hall for breakfast and Theo and Blaise were more than happy to sacrifice a bit of sleep in order to help their friends.

Draco took Harry’s hand and the group went down through the common room, other Slytherins falling in step with them as a large bunch of the house walked together to the Great Hall. It was mostly silent, with a few quiet conversations, and everyone had an air of tense anticipation about them, ready to stand united at the first sign of trouble.

As soon as Harry entered the large hall, the room went quiet with everyone, both staff and students, staring at him in his new robes. Draco pulled him to the middle of the Slytherin table on the far side so they had their backs to the wall and sat down, filling a small plate for Harry as he made up one for himself, having figured out his favorites after several weeks living with him this summer. Harry smiled gratefully at his mate, settling down to eat and ignoring the whispering and stares.

Thankfully, breakfast passed uneventfully for the most part, other than an unrelated incident involving a clumsy Hufflepuff first year and a juice pitcher. It wasn’t really relaxing in any way, however, as the tense mood continued, as if Harry was in the eye of a storm.

Later, in Potions, Harry braced himself for the usual taunts and hateful behavior from Snape, and was a little shocked until he remembered last night’s conversation when the professor almost completely ignored him during the brewing part of class, not belittling his work or trying to intimidate him into messing up the potion. Snape did insult him once near the beginning of class, but he could tell there was no cruelty behind it and so it didn’t bother him. Draco exchanged a happy look with Harry and the pair concluded through mental discussion that Severus probably believed he could get away with not taking points or being overly rude now that Harry was in Slytherin.

The day seemed to be looking up, until Harry entered Umbridge’s classroom and saw her beady eyes boring into him. She gave a little speech about how they didn’t need to actually do magic, just learn how, and Harry was outraged. How could they cripple students like this? They had their OWLs this year and there was no way anyone would be able to pass the physical portion of the exams without ever doing the spells before.

His anger must have shown on his face, for she said, in a sickly sweet voice. “Mr. Potter, did you have something to say?”

“No, ma’am.” He muttered, avoiding her eyes.

“Detention this evening, Mr. Potter, for not addressing a professor properly and lying to them.” The toad woman said, smiling triumphantly.

Draco tensed up next to Harry, but Harry put a hand on his knee and he relaxed slightly. It wouldn’t help anyone if he got detention too.

The day only went downhill from there. At lunch, Ron stormed over to the Slytherin table and started yelling at Harry, screeching loudly about betraying his house and shacking up with Slytherins, though the words he said were much worse. Enough so that, looking scandalized, Flitwick took 40 house points from Gryffindor and gave him detention for a week. Ron sat down at the Gryffindor table with a huff.

After lunch, Harry was called to Snape’s office in the dungeons. “Mr. Potter, Dumbledore has called you to his office. Would you like me to go with you? Or perhaps another teacher, if you feel uncomfortable with me?” 

Surprised at his new Head of House’s thoughtfulness, Harry pondered this for a second before asking, “Would it be alright if both you and Professor Flitwick came?” That way they could make it seem that Harry was uncomfortable with Snape and insisted on having Flitwick come.

“Of course.” The vampire nodded and led the way. Harry followed Snape through the castle to the Ravenclaw tower, where they asked Flitwick to come as backup. Flitwick agreed, seemingly confused as to why Dumbledore was trying to meet alone with a student in the first place. 

When they arrived at the office, Harry waited while Flitwick said the password, which today was Custard, and followed the two professors up the stairs. Opening the door after Flitwick knocked, Dumbledore’s eyes turned angry when he realized Harry hadn’t come alone but he quickly recovered, throwing on a friendly grandfather mask.

“Hello, Harry, my boy.” He said, twinkling his eyes ferociously. The teen felt a probe along his mental shields and shoved the headmaster out. “I am sure that you have now realized you were hasty in your re-sorting and would like to rejoin Gryffindor. I already have your old bed ready for you and you can return there this evening. I’ll have one of the house elves move your things for you.” 

Harry resisted the urge to laugh at that. The house elves would have fun trying to so much as touch his trunk. It was heavily warded with both elf, Veela, and wizard magic. It was also absurd how the headmaster seemed to think he’d just do whatever the old coot said.

“I do not want to return to Gryffindor. I am perfectly happy in Slytherin, and I’ve found friends that actually like me for me, instead of my fame and money.” Harry replied, giving the headmaster a glare that said he knew exactly what Dumbledore was trying to do.

“But, my boy, that’s really very selfish of you. Think of your friends. They must be devastated. I can’t believe that you would abandon your friends like this.” Dumbledore continued, trying to guilt Harry into agreeing with him. And if he was still under the compulsions and potions, he likely would have too.

Flitwick cut in. “Harry has made his position on this matter very clear, Albus, and I don’t appreciate you trying to strong-arm and guilt trip him into returning to a place he was unhappy in. I don’t think the public would appreciate it very much either, especially all those parents on the school board.” 

Harry held in a snicker, Flitwick was not very subtly threatening Dumbledore, what was the world coming to. The water elf had to wonder if the half-goblin had been informed at least partially of the situation by some of his relatives at Gringotts. He exchanged an amused look with Severus, who had just been leaning against the wall observing the whole time.

Knowing he had lost, at least for now, Dumbledore gritted his teeth and dismissed them. He’d have to find a way to get that troublesome boy alone. He was messing up all his plans. At this rate, next someone was going to realize that he’d completely faked the prophecy!


	20. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops my finger slipped, now there's a ton of chapters posted
> 
> I'm a serial poster if you haven't figured that out by now, I was totally lying about only posting 2x a week with one chapter, hope you enjoy the updates and don't get buried alive hehe.
> 
> This chapter is the place where the rewrite really starts diverging from the original. That's it until tomorrow. :)

That evening, Harry reluctantly and a bit nervously walked to Umbridge’s office, feeling jumpy and scared. He’d ended up having to go by himself as Draco was required to be at a prefect meeting. The door was open, so he ventured inside to find her sitting at the desk. The room had been completely redone in nauseating levels of pink with kittens everywhere.

Choking back a laugh and a cringe at the same time, Harry sat down in the chair across from her, forcing himself to remain calm and his face blank. He had a small bag with him and was wearing the protective bracelet from Draco, just in case. One could never be too careful when the teacher seemed to have it out for him and his past record with DADA teachers was 4 for 4 of attempted attacks on him.

“Good evening, Professor Umbridge.” He said politely, trying not to get any further on her bad side.

Ignoring his greeting, Umbridge pushed a piece of paper towards him, sneering. “Mr. Potter, this evening you will be writing lines for me.”

“I don’t have a quill professor.” Harry responded calmly.

“I have one for you.” Umbridge smirked, pulling one out of a desk drawer. “You will write I must not tell lies.” She handed him the quill.

Harry, just about to start writing, paused. “How many times, professor?”

“As many times as it takes to sink in...” Umbridge smiled sinisterly and poured herself a cup of pink tea.

***

Draco was just entering the common room after the prefect meeting when his hand suddenly stung fiercely. A gasp of pain escaped him and Severus was at his side in a second.

“What’s happening?” The vampire asked.

Between waves of burning pain, Draco choked out. “S’not me. Harry. Detention. Umbridge. Think she’s. Using blood. Quill. Him.”

Severus’s eyes widened and the students nearby who heard were outraged, muttering to one another angrily. Blood quills were the height of illegal except for legal binding documents and only Gringotts and the Minister were able to have them. “Unfortunately, we will have to wait until he returns after the detention but we can get evidence and take it to the school board in an emergency meeting and get her fired.”

Draco slumped into a chair and Severus paced nearby, anguished at the fact that he was unable to stop his dragon and their mate’s pain. Most of the Slytherin common room had now gathered and were sitting and standing solemnly nearby, having resolved to be witnesses so that they could call an emergency board meeting that very night.

***

Harry clenched his teeth in pain as he wrote the next line. It had been an hour and his hand was stinging fiercely. He went to stretch it out and froze when he saw the bloody words gouged into his hand. 

Umbridge looked up. “Something the matter, Mr. Potter?”

“My hand…” Harry mumbled, horrified.

She took his hand and looked at it, before nodding to herself. “I think you’ve learned your lesson, Mr. Potter. You may go.”

Shocked speechless, Harry stared at her for a moment before rushing out the room, almost forgetting to take his bag with him. He slowed down before he got to the dungeons. Draco couldn’t learn of this, he’d think Harry was pathetic for not standing up to her, and leave him, just like everyone else did eventually.

He put his other hand over the words and tried to make it seem casual, but he was forgetting that his mate would have felt everything, because as soon as he entered the common room, Draco’s head snapped up and he rushed over to the elf. “How bad is it?” Harry let out a whimper in distress. He’d failed his mate and now he’d be all alone. 

Draco scooped Harry up and brought him over to the sofa where Severus was waiting with pain-numbing salve. They couldn’t heal it until after the board meeting, but thankfully they were able to take away the discomfort at least. “It’s okay. Shh, little one. I don’t hate you. I’m not angry at you, I’m angry at Umbridge for doing that.” He glared at Harry’s bleeding hand. Picking it up, he sniffed it several times before giving it a little lick.

“Come on, little one. Severus has some numbing cream for your hand and then he’s flooed Lucius. They’re calling an emergency board meeting that will convene in half an hour.”

Once the cream was applied to the wounds, Harry relaxed some, curling against his mate as he had realized his panic had made him irrational. Of course Draco wouldn’t leave him. Now that he was calmer, the elf looked around and realized most of the other Slytherins were there.

“They witnessed the pain I was in and want to provide more evidence to get that disgusting toad out of the school and hopefully even get charges against her.” Draco explained to Harry.

***

It felt like only a few minutes before Severus suddenly stood up. “Our guests have arrived. Follow me, everyone.” 

The large group of students walked together through the halls to the great hall, where Flitwick, McGonagall, Sprout, and Dumbledore were standing along with 5 strangers and Lucius. They must be the school board members, Harry realized.

Lucius must have already been filled in by Severus on what had happened as he looked absolutely murderous, but the rest seemed mostly confused as to what was going on.

Due to the large number of students, the meeting would be held in the Great Hall instead of the smaller room off of it that usually held the school board gatherings. Severus gestured for the Slytherins to sit at their table and took a seat at the staff table next to the other house heads.

The board members all introduced themselves to the students as they took a seat, which Harry found very helpful. Other than Lucius, the board members consisted of Augusta Longbottom, Gianna Rowle, Mathias Jordan, Briana Abbott, and Evan Rosier. Several of the surnames sounded familiar, but the only one he’d heard about before was Augusta from Neville.

The Longbottom matriarch seemed to be running the meeting, as she waited until everyone was seated before clearing her throat and gesturing to Severus. “We have assembled this evening due to the urgent request by Professor Snape. He stated that a student had been illegally tortured by the new defense professor.”

There was a very loud outcry of horrified staff and parents. Even Dumbledore looked genuinely shocked, so he must have not known about the blood quills.

“Which student?” Flitwick questioned once it was a bit quieter.

Severus sighed and gestured towards the area where the 5th years were sitting. “None other than Harry Potter himself. Umbridge used a blood quill on him for at least an hour.”

“What is the evidence? The proof? I am as eager as you to fire and arrest her but we cannot do so without proof.” Gianna Rowle said, speaking up for the first time since her introduction. She had been sitting quietly observing everything.

Severus looked apologetically towards Harry, then called him up to the table. Harry refused to release Draco’s hand and pulled him up there with him.

“Why is the Malfoy boy coming?” McGonagall protested. “Go sit down.” 

Lucius glared at the Gryffindor Head for her rude behavior towards his heir. “Minerva, he is coming up to the table for a reason. Now be quiet and listen.” He was extremely upset and so couldn’t quite manage the calm and polite demeanor he usually displayed.

Severus gestured for Harry to come over to where he was seated next to Gianna. “Lady Rowle, the wounds caused by the blood quill. I gave him a numbing salve but was forced to wait to heal it because of the evidence, as you said.” 

Lady Rowle nodded curtly as she saw the inflamed words carved into Harry’s skin, her usual pureblood mask abandoned in favor of staring, appalled, at the vicious wounds . “I suggest we take a photo so that his hand may be healed?”

The other board members agreed and Abbott produced a wizarding camera. Pictures were quickly taken and then Severus passed Harry a potion to help heal it and another salve. Draco took his hand and applied the cream and potion, watching carefully as the wounds healed and faded away completely. The Veela let out a relieved breath, having worried that it might have left a permanent scar.

“Now, I’d like to hear the whole story from Mr. Potter and I assume Mr. Malfoy as well.” Evan Rosier said, speaking up from farther down the table. “While this is done, I suggest a couple of us talk to the other students.” Jordan and Abbot volunteered and walked down to the Slytherin table.

The rest of the board and staff turned their focus to the two boys who had by now taken a seat on the other side of the table in some chairs Flitwick had levitated over from the empty end of the staff table.

“Start from the beginning then, Mr. Potter.” Rosier said.

Drawing strength from Draco’s hand in his, Harry explained everything, starting when he had been given detention. Several board members were taking notes, which made him feel a bit odd, but he focused on his story.

It was revealed that he and Draco were mates and Draco had felt all the pain which is how Severus and the other Slytherins were aware of what had happened. Dumbledore did not look pleased, but wasn’t able to do anything because of how publicly this had been announced. Now his plans to get Harry to marry Ginny wouldn’t be usable anymore. There would be immediate investigation if Harry was seen with anyone other than his mate.

After a long period of discussion and arguing, the school board finally came to a conclusion. They would forcefully remove Umbridge from the castle this evening and publish an article in the Prophet with permission from Harry and Draco along with sending a letter to all the parents. Lucius would be the Defense teacher for the rest of the year.

Seeing the students were tired and it was getting quite late, Flitwick pointed this fact out to the other adults and Severus had the Slytherins return to their common room led by the 7th years who had come. "Well, it seems like the curse on the position is still going strong." Flitwick said in amusement into the silence.

***

Dumbledore slammed the door to his office as he returned from the emergency board meeting. Casting a quick silencing charm, he began hurling things from his desk against the well. Fawkes chirped in alarm and flew up into the rafters, narrowing avoiding a glass flower. The phoenix looked down at the evil man who kept it enslaved and hoped that someday it would be free from the old coot.

Down below, Dumbledore was ranting to himself as he continued smashing things. “All my plans are going wrong! First, Harry disappeared during the summer and came back to school ignoring the Weasleys and Granger, who were supposed to encourage his reckless and rule breaking behavior this year so that I could have Snape teach him Occlumency improperly and make his mind easy for me to plant fake dreams and memories in. Then, he got himself resorted into the house of evil Death Eaters and refused to return to Gryffindor.. My pawn is out of control! And now the one last attempt at controlling the idiot boy had gotten herself arrested.”

Dumbledore sat down in his chair, a little less violent and continued complaining. “She was supposed to only give detention to Harry and then scare him into coming to me, who would comfort him and slip him a loyalty potion on the side. The boy doesn’t know what he is doing! He needs to kill Voldemort and then die, leaving me to pick up the pieces and become the wizarding world’s hero once more, like the good old days after I defeated dear Gellert.”

He let out a sigh and repaired the broken glass and metal with a wave of his wand, feeling calmer now, and sat down at his desk. There had to be something he could do.


	21. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all seemed to enjoy the chapter dump and today's an update day so who am I to deny my readers.  
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> -yeets more chapters-

The next morning, the Slytherin table waited in barely contained excitement for the morning’s paper. The other houses and most of the teachers and staff still had no idea of the events of the previous night and they couldn’t wait to see their reactions, especially the youngest Weasels and Granger. Some of the other houses had noticed that Umbridge was missing from the staff table, but probably just assumed she was sick or something.

Draco was still hovering around Harry, his Veela not yet having relaxed from the protective mode of yesterday. Harry had completely given up on trying to convince him to calm down at this point and instead had cuddled into Draco’s lap, holding his necklace with the feather of his mate, allowing Draco to feed him bites of toast and fruit.

There was a sound of fluttering wings and then the owls swept into the Great Hall carrying their letters and papers for the students. Harry looked up expectantly and caught an envelope that Hedwig had brought. Good, Narcissa had received his letter. The water elf had sent her an owl the previous morning, telling her about the first day of school. Draco’s mother had insisted that Harry write her too and that he was part of the family now.

The letter was just a light-hearted reply, seeing as the group had realized both the ministry and Dumbledore would probably be trying to go through the mail at some point and used other methods such as connected journals so sensitive information was not intercepted. Draco had received his own reply from Narcissa along with a box of treats containing a note asking that the two shared some with their friends.The blonde tucked the letters away in his bag and returned to feeding Harry, ensuring that he had enough food. Hedwig watched fondly from her perch on Harry’s head while she ate the mouse he’d given her. 

After a minute or so, there was a loud uproar as everyone started chattering loudly to each other about Umbridge, the article on the previous night’s events having made the front page. Neither Draco nor Harry were subscribed to the prophet, so Blaise lent them his copy to read.

**Student Tortured By Ministry Appointed Professor. Minister In On It?**

**By Rita Skeeter**

_ Dear readers, I was quite surprised the previous evening when I was visited at my home by the entire school board of Hogwarts. These distinguished parents, see pg. 3 for a list of board members, had some shocking news to share. The board had been called to Hogwarts only a few hours before for an emergency meeting, where proof had been provided that none other than the Boy-Who-Lived himself, Harry Potter, had been forced to use a blood quill illegally for an hour to carve the words I must not tell lies into his hand by Delores Umbridge in detention. The offense? According to classmates, the reason Potter received detention was for, in the words of Umbridge herself, “not addressing a professor properly and lying to them.” when Harry responded politely “No, ma’am.” after Umbridge asked him if he had anything to say in response to her declaration that they would not be allowed to use their wands in her classroom. Now, other than the highly disturbing event itself, more concerning questions present themselves. How did Umbridge get her hands on a quill of that kind in the first place? It is common knowledge that only the goblins and the Minister himself have access to blood quills, so now I am investigating whether the Minister had the quill stolen or there was a more sinister plot going on. During the meeting, evidence was collected in the form of photographs of Potter’s injury, see pg. 4 for the photographs which were provided by board member Brianna Abbott. Umbridge was promptly removed from the castle after the board meeting and Lord Malfoy confided to me that he hoped that the Ministry would arrest her as his son and Harry wanted to press charges. Draco Malfoy was revealed to be Harry Potter’s mate as he felt all of the pain from his mate being tortured and testified during the board meeting. For more information about Harry Potter and his mate, see pg. 5. _

Harry read through the article, and nodded approvingly, pleased that the blackmail Lucius had used against Rita Skeeter had worked well. While the reporter had done her best to sensationalize the news, it wasn’t twisted or fabricated like usual. Although he wasn’t sure how to feel about the wizarding world all knowing about his mate, overall, everything had turned out well. He exchanged a pleased smile with his mate. 

Large amounts of students, even more than before, were now shamelessly staring at him and Draco. Over at the Gryffindor table, Ron was bright red with anger and appeared to be ranting to Hermione, though the Slytherins were unable to hear it over the ruckus, though if the nearby Gryffindor’s expressions were anything to go on, that was probably a good thing. Ginny also looked really upset and was glaring at Draco, seeming to be complaining and whining to the other two of Dumbledore’s minions.

The students then had another source of gossip when the doors to Great Hall swung open suddenly, admitting none other than Lucius Malfoy into the large room. He had arrived, looking as put together as usual, for breakfast and to be introduced to the students and other staff. Narcissa would be staying at Hogwarts with him this year, leaving the house elves in charge at the manor.

Dumbledore pasted a fake smile on his face as he stood up to welcome Lucius, and looked over the students with a grandfatherly look in his eyes. “After the departure of our DADA professor, we will be welcoming Lord Malfoy from the school board to teach Defense for the year.” The headmaster said, eyes twinkling before returning to his seat.

Breakfast finished soon after and the students hurried off to their classes, leaving the Great Hall empty before long. The house elves brought the remaining contents of the five tables to the kitchens and began work on cleaning up and preparing for lunch. Amidst all the organized chaos, a small snake slithered along one wall, on the hunt for something tasty to eat.


	22. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe I really love this chapter 
> 
> please adore my OC characters as much as I do

After a long day of classes, the Slytherins returned to the common room, exhausted, and relaxed together in the common room, collectively deciding they needed a short break before starting work on their homework. Professor Snape had already assigned a 3 foot essay for the 5th year students, but most other teachers hadn’t given them much yet, as it was only the second day of classes.

Harry finished his essay quickly, finding the work a lot easier now that he had a clear mind. Draco completed his own not much later, and Harry, remembering his promise to visit the thestrals, pestered his mate until he agreed to accompany the elf down the edge of the forest to go see them. The herd of skeletal horses was overjoyed to see him, crowding around him and Draco in excitement.

Focusing on his connection to Death for a moment, Harry summoned a bucket of blood for the thestrals, to which Draco’s eyebrows rose up so high Harry idly thought that it was pure luck they hadn’t shot right up off his face. Sharing a brief memory of his dream with the Veela, Harry grinned at his mate’s astonished expression, which was apparently more towards the cupcake than the blood for some reason. 

He also spent some time that evening talking with Severus, having chosen to reveal more details about his abusive childhood with the Dursleys, who in return shared his own struggles with an alcoholic and angry father and a sick, weak mother. The two found some healing in this and met a couple more times for their own unorthodox method of therapy.

Harry hadn’t had another ‘lesson’ dream with Death yet, but expected there would be one soon. Hopefully it wasn’t the same night as his meeting with Darya, he would be exhausted enough after that. But of course, he was a Potter and so the Potter luck brought the cursed thought to reality.

That Saturday evening, Harry made good use of Draco’s excuse for him and snuck out of the common room, assisted by his map and cloak. Darya was waiting for him inside a room she had already created, a large forest clearing with a pond and some fish swimming in it. Dragonflies hummed their way across the surface of the water and a tiny frog hopped onto a rock.

The green-haired elf looked up from where she was seated cross-legged on a large rock, beckoning him over. Her casual sweater and leggings from before where nowhere to be seen, traded for a simple white and blue dress with a swirling pattern that reminded Harry of waves. 

“Hello, Harry! Today I wanted to introduce you to some friendly water species. While we can’t speak directly with them, our magic allows us to create a sort of connection and often they are willing to complete requests in exchange for food or other small payments.” Darya gestured towards the tiny frog, which was now resting only a few feet away from her.

The dark-haired teen placed his bag and things down somewhere they wouldn’t get wet and joined his mentor on the rock, rolling up his sleeves and pants legs. “Hello, Lady Darya. I’ve been looking forward to this all week.” While Severus had to go by Snape in public as Dumbledore thought he was unaware of the Prince Lordship, he had in fact inherited the Prince name and title after his grandfather’s death. Though his mother had been disowned, the previous Lord Prince had no other children and so wrote in his will that Eileen’s son would inherit. Draco had explained it to Harry the previous week.

“Alright then, Harry. We’ll start with the frog. Coincidentally, I actually lost an earring back in the water a few minutes ago, so try and ask it to go look for it in exchange for a worm. I recommend disconnecting when it goes in the water if it agrees, as for elves newly come into their powers, it can be disorienting.” Darya pulled a small container of aforementioned worms from her dress pocket and grinned.

Nodding, Harry turned his focus towards the small frog, which was still resting near the edge of the rock. It took him a moment before he suddenly felt a tiny pull and sensed a thread of magic reaching out towards the frog. Trying to send his intentions to the frog using a series of images, Harry leaned back and smiled, retreating down the connection carefully.

“It wants two worms, but it’ll go search for it.” He said, amused by the frog’s demand.

“A bargainer, huh. Alright, tell it you accept.” Darya replied, smiling.

Harry did so and the frog chirped before hopping into the water with a small splash. Having forgotten to disconnect as Darya had wanted him too, Harry got to see flashes of water, plants, and fish as the frog swam through the pond near the bottom. It was a little dizzying, so he hastily closed the connection, reeling the strand of magic back in.

When he opened his eyes again, Darya was looking at him fondly exasperated. “You forgot.”

Smiling guiltily at her, Harry looked back at the surface of the pond. There was quiet for several minutes before, with a plop, the wet frog returned and dropped a metal earring back into the rock.

Harry leaned forwards and tossed a worm onto the stone in front of the frog while Darya picked up the piece of metal, waiting until the small frog had gulped down the first before tossing the second one. The frog gave a pleased chirp before hopping away into another, smaller rock nearby.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we have time for anything else tonight but I’ll see you next Saturday, Harry.” Darya said, standing up and extending a hand to help the younger elf up. Harry didn’t realize how stiff his limbs had become until he moved to get up. 

They said farewell and Harry gathered his things from under the nearest tree to the door. He snuck back to the Slytherin Common Room, narrowly avoiding Filch at one point because there were no other passages available to go around the caretaker. Thankfully, his cat Mrs. Norris wasn’t with him, so Harry was able to slip past undetected.

Back in the common room, he saw that the big clock in the corner read 11:45 and suddenly felt a lot more tired as the realization of how late it actually was occurred to his exhausted body. The other members of his room were already asleep, including Draco, who, going by the open book discarded on the edge of the covers, had tried to wait up for him.

Harry tiptoed over to Draco’s bed and picked up the book, marking his mate’s place before closing it and setting it on the nightstand in between their two beds. The Veela was wearing an oversized shirt and his fluffy blonde hair was mussed. 

The elf didn’t want to wake his mate up, so he went back to his own bed and got ready to sleep, discarding his bag to go through and put away in the morning. After he lay down in the soft sheets, it was only minutes before the tired teen drifted off to sleep.

***

Harry’s eyes shot open and he sat up, groaning when he realized it was one of the dreams with Death. Pouting, Harry got up and looked around for said deity. He just wanted to sleep in peace, he was tired. He must’ve jinxed himself earlier that week.

Unlike the beach of before, this time Harry was surrounded by massive trees, the size of which indicated they must be ridiculously old. Death was leaning against a tree wearing a skeleton onesie, looking pale enough to pass as a vampire but otherwise human. 

“ Hello, young Master.”  Death said, waving a bit awkwardly at him.

“ Death, hi. What’s tonight’s lesson about?”  Harry replied.

“ At the constant badgering of my assistant Thany, tonight you will be meeting the staff, so to speak.”  The Deity responded, “ This way, Master.”

Harry followed the deity through the trees until they reached a tree that made the others look like children. It’s trunk alone was wider than ten people standing side by side. Harry stared, open mouthed for a moment, before shaking himself. Death didn’t seem to notice he had fallen behind, so Harry hastily caught up to where they were now drawing something on the trunk. There was a sizzling sound as the blood Death had been using burned into nothing and then the tree trunk  swung open.  Nice, a secret tree door.

Harry was starting to get used to the honestly ridiculous things he’d been experiencing in the past few months at this point and just shrugged before descending down a spiral staircase on the inside of the tree behind the deity.

After a seemingly never-ending amount of stairs, a mildly dizzy Harry followed Death through an arched doorway and into a large room where about 20 or so beings were relaxing. Harry said relaxing because they were all wearing pajamas like Death.

One of them, who was wearing a bunny onesie, hopped up from where they were lounging on a bean bag chair and practically ran over to them. “ Hi! I’m Thanatos, but my friends call me Thany. I’m in charge of the reapers.”  they said excitedly, thrusting a skeletal hand towards Harry. Like Death, none of them seemed to have an obvious gender, but their features weren’t obscured like the deities.

Most of them seemed to be skeletons, but one or two were different. There was one who was a ghost and another in the corner with a grumpy expression wearing a corgi onesie that was reminiscent of a more elegant version of muggle zombie halloween costumes Harry had seen.

They all introduced themselves and Harry was slightly overwhelmed but found himself having fun, playing a game of monopoly with several of them, a skeletal figure in a expensive looking pajama robe called Charon, Thanatos, another skeleton in a black cat onesie called Aerel, and the corgi onesie spirit who went simply by M.

Time flew by and it felt like mere minutes before Death spoke up from where they’d sat down by a desk to work on paperwork. “ It’s getting quite late, or rather early, back in your world. You should be off now, Master. ”

Reluctantly, Harry handed over his monopoly things to another skeleton who had introduced themselves as Lord Sircen. He’d been winning, too. He nodded to death, having said farewell to everyone, and with a swirl, he was gone, off to sleep and actually get some rest this time.


	23. Special Chapter - Dumbles the Snake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This special story got a huge makeover from the original, hope you like the new version :)

The Weasley twins exchanged a slightly evil grin as they walked into the Great Hall. Today was the day they were pulling off their latest prank on the Headmaster. It was payback for all the times the old coot had put their little brother in danger and the various other things he’d done to Harry. They’d bribed a house elf, who seemed more than happy to do it, to put a spell they’d designed themselves on the silverware so when Dumbledore touched them, he’d be instantly covered in green glitter and gain a really long forked tongue like a snake. 

Harry had demanded they also prank the other teachers so Dumbledore wouldn’t realize they were targeting him, so the other professors were in for a surprise too. The twins were also looking forward to Snape’s reaction, though they’d purposefully arranged which person would get each, so they’d made sure not to do anything too bad to their friend’s godfather and family. He’d actually been secretly more supportive of them in class recently and even given them a few suggestions for potions they were developing.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table after glancing over at the staff table, where the professors were just arriving and had yet to touch their meals. Fred put together plates of food for himself and George while his twin retrieved some paper from his bag to take notes of the effects and ideas for the future. They were inventors first and foremost, not just pranksters.

More students came in and sat down, plates appearing in front of them. Finally, Dumbledore reached for a spoon, and as soon as he touched it, there was a loud pop and he was suddenly covered in shimmering green glitter. From head to toe, the man was glitterified, the only part of him uncovered was his eyes.

The twins high-fived sneakily as Snape gave Dumbledore an amused glance and after a moment of staring at them at the Gryffindor table, resignedly picked up his fork and knife. Another pop sounded as Snape and then McGonagall were transformed, the former gaining pink eyes and blonde hair, while McGonagall was turned into a cat hybrid. Students were noticing now, and giggles turned into full-blown laughter at the sight of their teachers.

Dumbledore seemed to realize what had happened, and stood up, eyes frosty. “Who did this?” He asked, as if he actually expected the pranksters to step forward. Honestly, and he’d been in Gryffindor when he was a student. He should know that would never happen.

The students, finally calming, burst into laughter again when Lucius gained a beak and red feathers. Over at the Slytherin table, Draco was practically crying from laughing so hard and Harry was grinning evilly while taking pictures of Lucius, Dumbledore, and Snape.

Repressing their smirks, the twins sat innocently at their table, eating their breakfast. This was just too good. They’d have to ask Harry for a copy of some of those photos later, to add to their pranking book. The twins had been working on it for years and had mostly written accounts of the events, but there were the occasional photo and drawing.

Dumbledore could be seen repeatedly trying to fix the staff, failing miserably as well, as the twins left the Great Hall. They smirked at each other. Dumbles would be there for a while. They’d purposefully made it so the spell couldn’t be cancelled, since it wasn’t permanent and only lasted for a certain amount of time, they were able to manipulate the magic enough to do so. The teachers would have to wait for it to wear off. They’d also added a lovely little bit that made it so every time someone tried to remove the spell, it simply changed the animal they were.


	24. Chapter Twenty

The removal of Umbridge from the castle so early in the school year had forced Dumbledore to change his plans. Again. The headmaster was currently plotting at his desk in his room, scribbling down ideas and then crossing them out. Eventually, he ended up with a short list of acceptable plans and put down his quill, wandering off to go find some lemon drops.

On the other side of the castle, the Slytherins were relaxing in their room. Harry was chatting with Vanadi while Draco was trying to work on a homework assignment. He kept getting distracted by Harry’s parseltongue, however, and had only managed to write two sentences so far. Blaise and Theo were playing a game of chess.

There was a tapping at the window and Harry looked over to see an owl poking its beak at the glass. He got up and opened the window, retrieving the letter and tossing a mouse its way. The owl let out an appreciative hoot before vanishing back into the sky above, payment clutched tightly in its talons.

The letter was in an official looking envelope and Harry opened it to find that the Ministry was alerting him to the fact that Umbridge had been arrested for illegal use of a blood quill and torturing a minor. A court date was set for her trial, however Draco and Harry were not required to attend themselves, and instead Lord Malfoy would be there as their representative. The two had already provided testimony and evidence and honestly Harry just wanted to forget all about it, so after discussing the letter with Draco, the pair decided not to attend.

After a peaceful lunch in the common room, with sandwiches and fruit provided by Dobby, the group of Slytherins made their way to their first afternoon class. Defense would be a lot more enjoyable now that Lucius was their teacher. They arrived early and were some of the first ones to gather outside the classroom. Unfortunately, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were also there.

The Gryffindor boy spotted them and glared, before marching over. “You’re such a filthy liar, hanging out with Death Eaters and faking injuries for popularity. You’ve obviously gone evil and you’re one of those disgusting creatures now too.”

“Shove off, you ugly excuse for a tomato.” Draco replied, sneering at the Weasel. “The only disgusting creature here is you, but you’re probably so deluded you don’t even realize you’re a troglodyte. I mean, honestly, have you ever seen yourself eat? Disgraceful.” Behind him, Harry snorted. Leave it to the Veela to insult Ron with words longer than the ginger’s IQ by 1000% percent. Troglodyte, that was actually pretty accurate though.

Ginny and Hermione had come over now too, and were standing on either side of Ron with angry expressions. “How dare you call my brother such horrible things!” Ginny screeched. Harry winced at the high pitch, honestly the girl had only gotten worse and more like her mother this year. Ginny made a sudden movement in Harry’s direction and Draco’s wand was in his hand in an instant.

Harry was just about to respond when Snape came along the hallway, cloak whirling dramatically behind him as Lucius walked next to him with an amused expression at the vampire’s antics. “What do we have here?” Severus drawled, looking gleeful. “That will be 30 points from Gryffindor.”

Hermione frowned at the Potions professor. “But-”

“Each.” Severus stared her down, daring her to continue. Around them, the Slytherin students and even some of the Gryffindors looked on with glee.

Wisely, Hermione shut her mouth and Snape nodded to Lucius before turning to go. “I’ll leave you to it then, Luc.”

The students filed into the classroom and took a seat on their house’s side of the room. Slytherin claimed the area nearest Lucius’s desk, which was tidy and organized, unlike the horrible decor of the previous occupant.

Lord Malfoy went right into the lesson, demonstrating and explaining spells, and even the Gryffindors had to admit he was one of the best Defense teachers they’ve had, only Remus Lupin could attempt to be argued in favor of before him truly. After the class practiced the spell, Lucius assigned them some reading and let them know he’d be asking questions next class on the material covered.

Draco and Harry were required to have their assignments graded by Flitwick because of concerns raised since Lucius is family, but the elder Malfoy was still able to give points and other rewards as long as it wasn’t blatant favoritism. Dumbledore had gone to the school board with his ‘concern’ on the matter, but it was common sense and Lucius and Flitwick had already made a deal on the problem, so Dumbledore was disappointed when his suggestion that perhaps someone else should be the Defense teacher was shot down.

The rest of the day passed quickly and then everyone was settling down for the evening in the common room. Draco had arranged with Severus to be able to visit his parents through a portrait in the Head of House’s office and Harry accompanied him through the tunnel to where Lucius and Cissa were waiting on the couch with some tea and biscuits. The two rose from their seat and Narcissa gave them each a hug. 

“I presume you have heard about the trial?” Lucius asked as he sat back down. 

Harry nodded and opened his mouth to elaborate but Narcissa gave him and her husband stern looks. “This evening will not be about business. I want us to relax and enjoy time as a family tonight.”

No one was brave enough to go against Narcissa when she took a side on something and so the evening was spent with casual conversation about school, quidditch scores, and the like. Lucius even dug out a magical jigsaw that morphed pictures to make it more difficult to complete, though the pieces stayed in the same place for each image. Harry found it fascinating and wondered if the twins had been inspired by it for some of their pranks.

Later, when it had become dark and the teens found themselves yawning, Cissa ushered them back through the hall and to their room. Draco and Harry curled up together in Harry’s bed and fell asleep as soon as they closed their eyes.


	25. Chapter Twenty One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huehuehe another one of my favorite chapters to write

It wasn’t more than a week after the previous ‘lesson’ with death that Harry once again found himself in another place after going to bed. The jagged rocks and harsh waves were a sharp contrast to the peace of the previous time. Death was waiting nearby, clothed in a hooded cape and onyx robes, with long elegant silver hair spilling from the shadows of the hood and delicate features.

“ _ Hello, Death. Is this...Azkaban? _ **”** Harry greeted the deity, staring wide eyed at the imposing stone structure out in the water.

“ **Master, yes it is indeed. This would’ve been last time’s lesson, however as you know, Thanatos has top-level puppy eyes, and so we didn’t get to do this last time.”** Death responded, moving to stand next to Harry as he gazed out at the prison.

Harry’s mind was coming up with some truly improbable ideas at this point, but was reassured slightly when it was revealed they had come to this place for the dementors. Not that much, truly, as his encounter with the creatures in third year had left some bad memories visiting him more often in his dreams than before. Still, it had to be better than some of the things he’d been thinking of.

A raven winged its way through the powerful winds and swooped in to land on Death’s shoulder, cawing in greeting. The deity smiled fondly, teeth just a bit too sharp flashing in the moonlight.

“ **This is my messenger and familiar Banamaði. It is norse for executioner** .” Death said, before speaking quietly to the raven, nodding, and retrieving a small package from his robes. Banamaði took flight again, box grasped tightly as the raven shot through the stormy clouds.

Death extended a slim hand to Harry and then floated them across the water, something Harry found terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. As they got closer to the prison, dark shapes became visible, drifting around the barred windows and consuming their evening meal.

The dementors must have sensed Death’s presence as all turned in their direction, dropping down to circle closer before bowing. One, a dementor much larger than the rest, came to land before Death and Harry, and must have signaled the others in some way as the dementors returned to their previous activity.

“Death, it’s an honor.” The dementor rasped, bowing to the deity.

“ **Prince Vhaene, I have come to introduce my Master to you. This is Harry.** ” Death said, inclining their head respectfully to the prince of the dementors, who nodded and turned to observe Harry, who smiled shyly. 

“ _ Hello _ .” The teen said, feeling a bit overwhelmed at the situation. He realized suddenly that he hadn’t felt anything like he had with his last encounter of the dementors. “ _ Why am I, do I not? _ ” He stumbled over his words.

**“Your position as Master of Death has rendered you immune to such beings. They are unable to even sense your emotions and cannot touch your soul.”** Death explained, taking pity on his bewildered master.

The three talked a bit more as Vhaene explained how the dementors worked and answered questions and false information that Harry had learned. It was surprising to learn that dementors were unable to perform a ‘kiss’ on anyone without the permission of Death and now Harry as Death’s master. They could feed off of the person’s emotions until they were exhausted and passed out, but were also unable to actually kill someone by feeding on them, just drain them which they then needed a while to recover from.

Death suddenly looked up towards the prison and muttered something that sounded like Nice timing. The deity dismissed the prince with a quick look and took Harry by the hand again, floating them up to one of the barred windows. Peering inside, Harry was able to make out a figure in the corner of the cell, mumbling to themselves.

“ **This prisoner is about to die from the conditions of the prison. They didn’t receive enough food and became sick, unable to fight it off because they were already in a bad condition. You can see how I collect their soul, stay there and watch.”** Death explained to Harry, depositing the teen neatly on the ledge outside and going shadowy, gliding through the wall without issue. 

The deity hovered next to the prisoner and placed a firm hand on their chest, causing a rush of silvery black sparks to spiral up through their throat and out their mouth, followed by a glowing orb that looked as if it was a sooty pearl. Death scooped up the orb and tucked it into their bag, patting the prisoner’s now dead body in farewell before sliding back through the wall.

Harry was astonished at how simple it had been, the elf had been expecting something more complicated.  _ “That was really interesting. _ ” was all he could come up at the moment, thoughts whirling.

Death seemed to sense that Harry needed some time and so said farewell, sending Harry off to sleep with a fond smile. Before they did so, the deity passed over a small bag, saying that Thany wanted them to give Harry a present from him and that the reaper missed him. When Harry opened the gift the next morning, he found a tiny little scythe, almost like a toy if not for the sharp blade and intricate carvings on the wooden handle. There was a note on a scrap of parchment, For the honorary grim reaper, it read. We have movie night next week and you’re invited btw. -Thany.

Harry grinned and showed his mate then, already looking forward to that. Hopefully, Death would let him go. The elf packed his bag for the day and vanished down the stairs to the common room with his mate, leaving a quiet room behind. 


	26. Chapter Twenty Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A certain character will be introduced soon! Maybe you've been wondering where they had been...

Harry enjoyed the next couple weeks of peace, no matter if it wasn’t really a relaxing sort of calm, the break was still very much appreciated. He focused mostly on his classwork, with the other lessons in the evenings, and spent lots of time becoming better friends with the Slytherins. He also popped down to the forest every now and then to visit the thestrals, who were quickly becoming spoiled according to the complaints of Death one evening, and had a blast at the movie night with the reapers. Harry had gotten to know Daphne Greengrass better after remembering they were some sort of cousins, and Daphne seemed to enjoy spending time with him, even promising to introduce him to her younger sister Astoria sometime.

Umbridge had her day in court and was found guilty, receiving a lengthy Azkaban sentence. The court had been horrified when under truth serum, Umbridge revealed that she had been planning to use blood quills on all the muggleborn and halfblood students due to her extreme belief that only purebloods were worthy of magic. This disturbing conviction of hers was only made more dumbfounding when it was found that Umbridge was in fact a halfblood herself, with a muggle parent. No one could rationalize how the woman could possibly reason that sanely.

In another week, the Malfoys’ plan to destroy Dumbledore’s reputation was well underway. With the help of a certain beetle, Lucius had uncovered quite a few skeletons in the man’s closet. The Malfoy Lord had been spending much of his free time planning out how to go about releasing this information. Dumbledore had been suspiciously silent recently, but from what Vanadi had seen while sneaking around the castle, he seemed to be plotting and hadn’t actually done anything yet.

The snake had been exploring the castle at the beginning of term, but had decided to remain close to Harry as the weather started getting cooler and fall arrived. He could usually be found curled around Harry’s arm or draped around his neck like a scaly scarf, but sometimes wrapped himself around Draco instead. Apparently the veela had a slightly warmer natural temperature than most wizards and creatures, so the blonde was relegated to being the snake’s personal heater. Draco complained about it constantly, but Harry could tell he didn’t really mind.

Currently, Vanadi was coiled around Harry’s neck, drowsy from the heat of the fireplace next to Harry’s chair. The elf was engrossed in an old book Darya had lent him which was a journal written by one of her ancestors. It was fascinating reading about what life was like so long ago, there were many similar things but just as many completely different. One thing that stood out was that back in the time of Elwin, the writer of the journal, it was extremely rare for creatures to have mates from a different species and they never were mates with wixen. Harry assumed it was because there used to be a lot more creatures back then and now there was a dangerously low amount that magic would give them mates that were a different species or just wixen.

Draco appeared at the entrance of the Slytherin Common room, flushed and carrying his Quidditch gear. The house team had been practicing hard recently as their upcoming game against Ravenclaw was sure to be a tough one. Vanadi perked up, forked tongue scenting the air, and slid down from Harry’s shoulders to the rug, tail waving in farewell to Harry as he slithered over to Draco, nudging the blonde’s leg with his snout until Draco gave in and offered an arm for the spoiled serpent to climb onto.

Harry smiled at the two before returning to his book, however he struggled to concentrate as a nagging feeling that he’d forgotten about something important bounced around his head. Frowning, Harry exhaled in annoyance and looked randomly around the common room, attempting to find something that might remind him of what it was that he needed to remember. His eyes landed on the shelf of awards and in particular one given to Regulus Black for achieving all Outstandings on his OWLs. Black… that was it! Harry had been so focused on school and Dumbledore that he’d completely forgotten about Sirius and Remus! Unfortunately, Harry was uncertain whether they could be trusted.

Draco poked Harry’s shoulder, causing him to jump a bit, startled. “Want me to write a letter for you to mum and dad? I’m sure they can figure out something.” Draco offered, squeezing into the armchair beside Harry.

“Yes, thanks.” Harry nodded, moving so he could cuddle with Draco. Vanadi let out an annoyed hiss, sliding so that he wouldn’t be squished. “Oops, sorry.” Harry apologized, smiling sheepishly at his familiar. He leaned his head against Draco’s shoulder, tucking the book into his school bag for later. Draco leaned in and left a soft kiss on the tip of Harry’s ear, something he did a lot. He really loved kissing the points of Harry’s ears for some reason. After a little while, his eyes drooped shut and he fell asleep, safe in the arms of his mate.


	27. Special Chapter - Vanadi's Explorations

Vanadi slithered along the stone floor, hissing in displeasure as he crossed a particularly cold spot. The halls of the castle were mostly empty at this time, it was still early and the sun was just rising in the sky, so the snake didn’t cross the path of anyone until he was well out of the dungeons. Most students had been frightened at first of him, but they had become used to the snake and a few, mostly Slytherins, would even give him treats or let him hitch a ride up some stairs. Today, however, he had to make the journey up the stairs by himself, at a much slower and strenuous pace.

A grumpy looking Severus was slumped over a large mug of coffee at the staff table. The other professors didn’t look much better, eating silently and half-asleep except for an overly cheerful professor Sprout who chattered away to McGonagall, who was drinking a cup of tea. Sliding along the edge of the room so as not be spotted, Vanadi curled up around the leg of Snape’s chair, booping his leg until the vampire looked down.

With a put-upon sigh, Severus reached into his robe pocket and tossed a worm down for Vanadi, who hissed in happiness, curling around the worm before snapping forward to gulp it down.

After he finished his tasty breakfast, Vanadi remained near Severus until Harry and Draco came into the hall. In the meantime, he watched the students and gave a laughing hiss when he spotted a angry Ron Weasley with neon pink hair. Once the snake spotted them, he slid down from the dais and wound his way around many pairs of feet under the Slytherin table until he reached Harry, who was occupied with removing a letter from a raven’s leg, who Vanadi assumed was called Banamaði, as Harry mentioned that word several times while talking to it.

Vanadi climbed up the elf’s leg, popping his head over the edge of the table. Draco was staring lovingly at a green apple while Harry was rolling his eyes and joking about something called Drapple. The snake wasn’t really sure what they meant but didn’t really care anyways, so he did the snake equivalent of a shrug and curled up around Harry’s arm inside his cloak. It was time for a nap before the afternoon’s expedition to find the kitchens.


	28. Chapter Twenty Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's update day! :D

A letter swiftly found its way into the hands of Lucius Malfoy. The Malfoy Lord frowned at the words as he read. This might be tricky to deal with, for all they knew, Sirius and Remus were also under compulsions or potions and could react violently if they tried to talk about. They’d have to arrange to meet at Gringotts, where the goblins would be on hand to restrain and/or purge the two if needed.

Writing down a brief reply, Lucius tied the note onto the leg of Draco’s owl and gave Goldy a snack before sending him off. They could come up with a more detailed plan later that evening, for now Lucius had a class to go teach and some homework to grade.

Fastening his cloak around his shoulders, Lucius twirled his wand absently as he walked down the hall and to the stairs that led up out of the dungeons. And if he took pleasure in penalizing a scowling Ron 20 points for shooting a tripping jinx towards a young Slytherin nearby, well no one could really fault him. That boy was a disgusting creature to be around, he had absolutely no manners and really Lucius blamed Molly Weasley for how he’d turned out. It was a miracle the rest other than Ginny had turned out as well as they had.

***

Harry leaned forward, chewing on his lip thoughtfully as he read over the rough draft of the letter they had planned to send his godfather/sire/Sirius. He didn’t really know what to call the man anymore, honestly. It had taken about an hour and a half for a cohesive piece of writing to come together that Sirius would take the right way if under potions or such and come to Gringotts.

Next to him, Narcissa was enjoying a glass of wine and writing a short story in her elegant handwriting. She actually was a published author in the Wizarding world but wrote under an alias. After Harry had expressed curiosity in her stories, Narcissa had lent him her copies of the published books to read and he’d really enjoyed immersing himself in the intricate worlds she had created. It was safe to say that Harry was most certainly a fan now.

Draco and Lucius were playing a game of chess by the fireplace, with Severus giving advice to Harry on things to include and words to avoid using for the letter. Darya was sitting in a chair in the corner by the door, making tiny shapes out of the water in a glass on the table nearby.

It was the middle of October now and the weather was chilly, so Harry hadn’t visited the thestrals for a couple weeks, at least in person. Death had brought him to visit them one time in his dreams after he asked.

Finishing the letter, Harry read over it one last time before nodding in satisfaction and signing it. Folding it up, he tucked the letter into an envelope and handed it to Hedwig, who fluttered her wings a few times before soaring out the door. There were no windows available nearby as the room was in the dungeons, so Harry’s owl had to fly up to the entrance hall in order to leave.

It was getting late, so as soon as Draco and his father finished their chess game, everyone said their farewells and split up to return to their sleeping quarters. Their roommates were already asleep, so they tried to be as quiet as possible. Harry deposited a dozing Vanadi on his heating rock and flopped into bed, so sleepy he couldn’t be bothered to change into sleepwear. Draco let out a fond sigh and magically swapped out his mates clothes for him. The two cuddled together in Draco’s bed, breathing in each other’s comforting scent as they fell asleep.

Their sleep was disrupted once later that night when Harry woke from a nightmare about Cedric, which had been much less frequent since the summer but still haunted his dreams occasionally. Draco comforted him carefully, wrapping the pair inside his fluffy wings and stroking his mate’s hair until Harry could calm down and fall back asleep.


	29. Chapter Twenty Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if there is inconsistent slang, I grew up in a half American, half British family so it all got mixed together and I tend to use both interchangeably.

Harry doodled on the edge of his parchment, taking a break from his essay to relax and draw. Across the table from him, Draco had his nose in an old, dusty book about potion ingredients. The two Slytherins were in the library working on their assignment from Severus, along with Seamus, Dean, and Theo. Blaise had already finished his essay and opted to go play gobstones with Pansy instead of going to the library with them.

Draco got up to return the book to the shelf, having finished taking notes on his piece of scrap parchment. Harry wanted to get up to move around as his limbs were becoming stiff from the prolonged period of leaning over the paper, so he slid out of his chair, leaving his essay abandoned on the table. Following his mate, Harry came up behind him and gave him a hug, resting his chin on the blonde’s shoulder.

“Are you almost done? We can swap papers to proofread if you want?” Harry asked.

“Yup! Just have the concluding paragraph and I’m done.” Draco replied, placing the large tome down on its shelf with a dull thunk. With his now free hands, he reached down to take Harry’s hands from where they were wrapped around Draco’s waist.

“Are you two snogging somewhere?” Came the loud voice of Theo from back at their table, prompting Madam Pince to shush him and glare disapprovingly in their direction.

“No! We just went to put a book back.” Harry called back, just as loudly. Madam Pince stared him down, beady eyes burning into him.

“That’s what they all say!” Seamus yelled, prompting snickering from other students nearby. Madam Pince inflated with enraged purpose and kicked the group out of the library for being too noisy. Harry shrugged, not really too bothered, before tossing his things back in his school bag and dragging Draco off to actually go snog.

****

A Gringotts meeting was arranged to be during the next Hogsmeade weekend, when they could slip away without notice easier. Sirius and Remus would both be coming, under the impression that they were going to help Harry with sorting through vaults he’d been gifted after ‘defeating’ Voldemort as a baby. Obviously, this wasn’t the case, but that was something that would have to be done eventually, probably during the summer.

Lucius and Severus were both stuck as Hogsmeade chaperones, so it ended up being Darya and Narcissa who accompanied Draco and Harry to the bank that morning. Cissa had opted for a nice set of robes over slacks and a blouse while Darya had decided to wear a more comfortable outfit consisting of leggings, a plain white shirt, and a jacket Harry suspected might belong to Severus. Harry and Draco were just wearing their usual school robes with casual clothes underneath.

As the group entered the bank, nods were exchanged with a goblin guarding a door behind the tellers and Narcissa led the way to a small office that looked similar to the one from his inheritance test. Grodclaw, the goblin sitting behind the desk, explained to them that there were several goblin guards stationed invisibly around the room in case they were needed. The plan was if the two Marauders turned out to be under blocks and potions, they’d get them purged and if they were clean but reacted badly, they would be obliviated.

The clock on the wall was just striking the hour when the door opened and Sirius strode in wearing a leather jacket, followed by Remus in a turtleneck and jeans. The werewolf spotted Darya and Narcissa, stiffening and looked like he was seconds from leaving before he saw Harry sitting on the sofa leaning his head on Draco’s shoulder, and changed his mind.

“If you’d take a seat, gentleman.” Grodclaw gestured to the chairs on the opposite side of the room from the sofa, next to a sword display where a goblin was invisible. Looking confused and frowning, the two men sat down, eyes darting between the goblin and Harry.

“Today, we would like you to take a test in order to see if you’ve been under spells or potions. Harry had quite a few things on him when he was tested.” Narcissa said, looking intently at Sirius and then Remus. “If you’d deposit a few drops of blood then?”

“What do you mean Harry was under potions and spells?!” Sirius yelled, shooting to his feet angrily. Thankfully, Remus yanked him back down, smacking him on the back of the head and telling Sirius to calm down. They both cut their hands quickly, allowing a few drops of blood to fall before healing the injury with their wands. 

The tests shimmered before words became visible in a red ink. Remus was mostly clean, but had a block on his werewolf causing him to have a deformed body on the full moon instead of an actual wolf one along with a compulsion from Dumblesdore to take wolfsbane, which was poison to him and would eventually end up killing him if it hadn’t been discovered. Sirius on the other hand, had so many things on his paper that it took almost 10 minutes to read the whole thing. There were blocks, potions, spells, even an obscure enchantment suppressing his godfather bond with Harry. The two were escorted off by the healers to be ritually cleansed and Harry felt the exact moment when the bond with Sirius was released, a cord of love and warmth snapping into place around his magical core. 

When they returned to the office, there was a long conversation about everything that had been going on and at the end of the meeting, they had a pair of spies in the Order of the Phoenix, some underground war militia of sorts that Dumbledore had created decades ago. Harry had also been sad to hear that Remus hadn’t been allowed to visit Sirius, his husband and mate, in Azkaban. The guards had barred him visiting rights supposedly because of his status as a werewolf, but Harry suspected it was because Dumbledore didn’t want Remus to realize Sirius was innocent or find out the truth about what had happened.

Sirius had apparently been living in his childhood home since he’d come back into the country last year when Harry was thrown into the tournament, but was unable to disclose the location. Darya had explained the place must be under a Fidelius charm so he couldn’t directly say it, but knowing that he’d lived there as a child would allow them to figure out what house he meant. It was currently being used as headquarters for Dumbledore’s Order and Sirius had said how Molly Weasley had practically moved in and tried to take over everything.

All in all, Harry considered the meeting to be a success and was happy that his godfather and their mate were on his side. When the group, minus Remus and Sirius, who had needed to return back to the Order headquarters before anyone noticed they were missing, returned to Hogwarts and spent the rest of the morning in Hogsmeade together, meeting up with Lucius and Severus for lunch in a restaurant there before returning to the castle.


	30. Chapter Twenty Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about leaving it at the cliffhanger, but I'm too nice.
> 
> You're welcome.

Draco yawned, rubbing at his eyes as he sat up. Looking at the time, he groaned and flopped back down. It was way too early to get up. Harry came over from his bed and poked Draco with cold fingers until with a yelp, the teen dove out of bed onto the floor.

“Alright, alright. I’m up!” Draco cried, dashing for the bathroom when Harry leaned over, fingers stretched out to poke him again.

Harry was already dressed, shifting nervously around as he waited for his mate to finish getting ready. Today, he was going to visit his parents graves for the first time. Severus would be taking him and Draco along to Godric’s Hollow that morning before classes started. The vampire did this every year on the anniversary of his honorary sister, and had insisted on bringing the two with him after discovering Harry didn’t even know where his parents had been buried.

Draco emerged from the bathroom, looking still half asleep, and his hair was a fluffy mess. “Let’s go then, little one.” Harry took Draco’s outstretched hand and grabbed the little bag he was bringing, which contained some lilies and a little deer figurine.

Severus was standing by the door to the Common Room, a solemn expression on his face. He was holding the portkey the three would be using, as apparition was blocked at Hogwarts. The portkey was a borderline illegal one but as they couldn’t make it more legal without involving Dumbledore, rules would be ignored for this instance.

There was a flash from the portkey, as it was time for it to leave, so everyone grabbed hold of the pen and with a swirl of air, they were gone, leaving an empty common room behind them.

They appeared outside the gates of the cemetery on a quiet street where no one had yet woken up. The sun was just barely peering over the horizon at this time of the morning, so their path was lit just enough to see. Severus led the way to the Potters’ graves, in a manner that spoke of many past memories of this exact journey. 

The path was a bit uneven and Harry was focused on trying not to trip, so when they stopped abruptly, he looked up, almost bumping into Severus. And, there, there were his parents final resting place, the marble headstones glinting softly in the weak sunlight. It all sort of rushed at Harry and he clutched Draco’s hand desperately, eyes going out of focus and nose burning a bit as he burst into tears. Harry had never really processed his parents death before, simply dismissing it while under the compulsions and afterwards he’d been distracted by the busy chaos of the past few months.

Severus swallowed roughly, lowering himself down to sit next to Lily’s headstone and fishing a tiny charm goldfish out his pocket, adding it to a bracelet hanging from one corner of the stone slab. Harry stumbled a bit closer and slumped down next to his father’s grave, still clinging tightly to Draco, who was stroking his hair softly and making comforting trills.

Snape spent a minute in silence staring off into the distance before rising from his spot and giving Draco a curt nod, moving away to lean against a tree 20 feet away in order to give Harry some time alone with his parents. Draco fished out the flowers and figurine from Harry’s bag and pressed them gently into his mate’s hand before joining Severus by the tree.

Harry reached out and placed a trembling hand on the cool stone of his mother’s headstone, putting down the lilies in front of it. “Hello, mum. It’s me, Harry.” He did the same for his father’s, placing the deer down and greeting him. “You won’t believe the year I’ve had so far…”

***

About an hour and many tears later, Severus activated a portkey and the three returned to Hogwarts just in time to catch the last half hour of breakfast before classes. As the group were leaving, they saw Sirius and Remus apparating to the graveyard, and the two had come over to wrap Harry in a warm hug. Remus even offered him a chocolate bar, which was quite a big gesture from the werewolf, who was addicted to chocolate and was quite protective of his stash. Even at Hogwarts during Harry’s third year when there were dementors around, Remus had been reluctant to share his chocolate with anyone except his cub.

Seated on the end of the Slytherin table nearest the staff table, Draco and Harry exchanged a covert grin as they spotted the day’s newspaper headlines. Rita Skeeter had been doing a marvelous job with their information, which was sensational enough she didn’t even need to put a twist on it. So far, Dumbledore had received quite a few  _ interesting _ letters and even a howler or two. Who knew that Neville’s grandmother could rival the screeches of Molly Weasley when pushed. Apparently the woman didn’t take kindly to finding out that the supposed wards that had been put up around the house were actually done to mess with Neville’s magic and compel her to make Neville use his father’s wand.

Neville had been overjoyed to finally get a wand of his own, ending up with a cherry wood and unicorn hair core. His performance in classes had drastically improved and several teachers had been overheard talking in a not so positive way about Dumbledore for forcing the boy to use another’s wand for years. That could have severely stunted his magic’s growth. Luckily, Neville had escaped unscathed, explaining to Harry that his creature inheritance had likely protected him from maical core damage.

Harry had also received a howler from Molly Weasley, who spewed out digusting slurs and ranted about him being in a relationship with a male and being with a ‘filthy beast’. Calmly, Draco had cast a spell that protected the ears of everyone in the nearby radius from the screeching before sending an incendio at the red envelope. The rest of the school was furious on Harry’s behalf and made Hermione, Ron, and Ginny’s lives absolutely miserable after the three loudly stated that Molly was right.

It was not long after the beginning of November when Aurors came to arrest Dumbledore one afternoon. Amelia Bones had been quite helpful after seeing Harry’s inheritance test and the test’s Sirius and Remus had done, sliding their case through the system quickly. At this time, the charges they’d been able to use were attempted line theft, child endangerment, and accessory to child abuse. Fortunately, Harry had been able to get them to omit for public record just who the person involved in the line theft and abuse was, not wanting to be gawked at even more than he already was. Not so fortunately, however, the arrest attempt did not go as planned and it didn’t even go wrong the way Lucius had expected, with Dumbledore managing to slide his way out of any consequences. No, it was much more unexpected.

The Aurors had cornered Dumbledore in the outdoor courtyard, with many students and teachers watching wide-eyed from a safe distance. Dumbledore’s face was thunderous and he appeared to be trying to convince the Aurors that it was all a misunderstanding. It didn’t seem to be working from the looks on the group’s faces.

Dumbledore’s face smoothed out into a neutral one and he said something loudly before clapping his hands. A red blur appeared, very obviously being dragged by magic, and the struggling phoenix made contact with Dumbledore’s hands before there was a flash and they were gone.

There was an ominous snap and everyone looked around, trying to find where the sound was coming from. Suddenly, the air filled with crackles and rips and with a start Harry realized the wards were being destroyed. He was also feeling the wards collapsing a bit with his magic, being an heir of the founders, he had a connection with the castle.

With a loud rumble, the wards fell entirely. They had already been manipulated before this, Harry could sense that Dumbledore had dismantled many of the wards over the years, likely as they interfered with something he was plotting, and this had weakened them enough that the man was able to destroy them as he left.

Luna appeared at his side accompanied by Neville. She gestured for Harry and Draco to join hands with them so the four were standing in a circle. “As heirs, you and Neville can build up a temporary protection ward for the school until we are able to properly restore the wards. I will focus Ravenclaw’s power as proxy for you, while Draco can host Slytherin’s power. Neville is the heir of Hufflepuff and you of Gryffindor. Together, we represent the school’s founders.”

With extreme concentration, the four managed to painstakingly raise a bubblelike barrier that would at the very least alert them if something was trying to get in and give the school time to prepare. The other students and professors watched, shocked, as they created a protective ward without prior lessons. Lucius smiled proudly as he watched them, Darya and Narcissa at his side. Severus was across the courtyard keeping an eye on the trouble trio, as Hermione, Ginny and Ron were dubbed by the adults one evening. Thankfully, they seemed too stunned about Dumbledore’s departure to do anything.


	31. Chapter Twenty Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe I lied, you traded one cliffhanger for another and in my opinion this is more of one.
> 
> See you this weekend -evil grin-

With Dumbledore gone, McGonagall was left to act as Headmaster for the time being, and while the woman was at least capable at her job, she also had far too many responsibilities on her plate, being a professor and head of house on top of the headmistress. Thus, the position of Headmaster was quickly shifted to a more than willing Flitwick, who had already improved the school by installing a physical fitness room. There had been one fifty years ago before Dumbledore had removed it, probably wanting to make the students weaker and unaware of how being active and staying in shape had an affect on their magical power so they were easier to manipulate.

Dumbledore was still at large, having vanished from the public eye since the day he escaped using an unwilling Fawkes. When they caught him, Harry resolved to make sure they tried to help the phoenix. It had always tried to look out for him as a student and he wanted to repay its kindness. No one knew where Dumbledore had gone, not even Molly Weasley, as the twins had reported back to Harry with information that they’d overheard.

Since the DMLE and other capable adults were handling Dumbledore’s case, Harry was able to relax a bit and focus on school work again. Several weeks passed and then it was time for winter break. There were students planning on staying at the school, so the wards would have to wait until summer when there was no one there. Harry had returned to Malfoy Manor along with Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco. Severus and Darya were also staying with them for a few days around Yule. The Malfoys hosted a Yule Ball every year and so Harry would get to attend this time, accompanied by Draco of course.

As soon as Harry had set foot in the manor, an enthusiastic Mipsy practically launched herself at him as she chattered about how happy she was to see him again. The two had been having fun cooking together in the summer and hadn’t interacted for months, so it was good to see her. Lessons with Darya had been put on pause for break, as she wanted to give his elf magic time to rest, but Death still popped into Harry’s head for an occasional chat.

Darya went with Harry to Diagon Alley one day in order to pick up some holiday gifts. They had been custom ordered ahead of time for each person, except for Darya’s which Harry had crafted himself and frozen using a combination of his water elf powers and charms. For Severus, Harry had bought Everlasting ink pens with tiny carved decorations of bats. They contained charms to tell when the ink was running out and magically created more ink to refill the pen with. Lucius would receive a green hair ribbon that Harry had added decorative embroidery to himself with a bit of help from Narcissa, while Cissa would be given a delicate necklace with a daffodil flower charm, as those were the flowers connected to her name, also known as narcissus. Draco would be given a glass orb with a green snake detail wrapped around the outside, while on the inside was a swirling sphere of water imbued with Harry’s magic. Vanadi would get a tiny crown that stayed on his head by virtue of a special parselmagic sticking charm of sorts, while Hedwig would be getting a new wooden perch and some mice.

Harry and Darya were just making their way to an apparition point on one end of the street when someone grabbed Harry roughly by the arm and dragged him away into the crowd. Twisting around as he tried to get whoever it was to let him go, Harry caught a glimpse of their face and realized it was none other than Molly Weasley. She had a creepy smile on her face as she only clutched tighter to his wrist, so tightly it was painful. There was a swirling rush of air as a hidden portkey activated and then Harry was falling into the familiar living room of the Burrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've adopted a work called Memories of Change by Slash_bae so keep an eye out for the first chapters to be posted soon.


	32. Chapter Twenty Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't leave you in suspense, you're welcome. I was contemplating leaving it til the weekend, but I really hate when writers do that on fics so here you go.
> 
> I was really disturbed earlier this morning when someone left a frankly disgusting comment on this work that was both inappropriate and wholly unexpected. It was promptly deleted but I went and read some disgustingly fluffy short fics on here to get rid of it in my mind.
> 
> Anyways, I'm okay now... hope you enjoy this chapter.

Draco was reading a book quietly in his and Harry’s room when all of a sudden his link with Harry flared up in fear and distress. Leaping up, he ran as fast as he could down to the sitting room where his parents were. A moment after he arrived in the room, there was a crack of apparition and Darya appeared carrying a shopping bag that was quickly placed aside. “Molly Weasley managed to get a good grip on his arm and disappeared with Harry before I could get through the crowd to them.” She called urgently, trying to catch her breath.

“Can you get his location?” Narcissa asked, looking to Draco. 

Draco frowned, concentrating on the link. Harry wasn’t able to focus enough at the moment on their bond, so it was just unconscious bits being shared in his mate’s panic. “Not through our connection.” He felt panic of his own twisting into a tight knot in his stomach.

Abruptly, he remembered the bracelet Harry also had. “I can trace the location of Harry’s bracelet!” Hurrying over to sit down, Draco pulled out his wand and cast a couple of spells on his own bracelet, which glowed before floating letters appeared above it. “He’s at the Burrow.” The group of four, joined by Severus who had been alerted by Darya what was going on, made quickly for the exit. Who knew what that woman was planning on doing to Harry, they needed to get there before anything could happen.

***

Harry glared at Molly as she moved around the kitchen, making a cup of tea. The Weasley matriarch had managed to take his wand while he was disoriented from the portkey, but he still had Vanadi hidden on his person and his bracelet. He was tied to one of the kitchen table chairs with some rope from the shed and the knots were so tight around his wrists he was losing feeling in his fingers.

A cup of tea was put down mockingly on the table in front of Harry, who was unable to reach it with his hands tied behind him. Molly took a sip of her own tea and was watching him smugly. She got up after a moment and took Harry’s cup, forcing him to drink some of the tea. On his wrist, Harry’s bracelet flared up in a stinging pain, alerting him to the potion in the hot beverage. Thankfully, the bracelet also protected him from its effects, so Harry allowed himself to swallow the liquid, watched carefully by Molly.

“Now, you will give me your money. It’s the least you can do for the woman you consider to be like a mother to you, after everything you’ve done to my precious Ginny and Ron and trying to get the headmaster arrested.” The woman said confidently, believing the potion to have worked. A perception alterer, one that compelled him to agree with anything said, then.

Harry kept his face blank, though secretly, he was enraged at that last remark. How dare she compare her repulsive self to his mother. “I think...” he paused as if to ponder it, head tilted to the side. “No.” He finished with a grin, mock serious expression gone.

“You little-” Molly stood up, reaching for a wooden spoon nearby. She moved threateningly towards him only to have a snake come lunging towards her from where he had been hidden in Harry’s robes. Vanadi wasn’t venomous, but his bite was still painful, and the snake took full advantage of this. Molly flailed around trying to hit him and eventually got lucky, whacking Vanadi across the room, where the serpent hit the wall with a loud thump and fell unmoving. Horror filled Harry as he stared at his unmoving familiar.

Molly grabbed him roughly where he was still tied to the chair and shook him, muttering something about him committing sins. Harry felt anger flood through him and water surged inside of him, his magic ready to make the woman pay for hurting Vanadi even if that meant revealing his creature inheritance.

At that very moment, the door to the Burrow exploded, sending wood flying everywhere. In the doorway, Severus stood in a dueling stance, flanked by Darya, Narcissa, and Lucius. Draco was right behind, creature aspects of his appearance plainly on display.

No words were said, just a swift stunner sent flying right into Molly’s shocked face. Draco rushed to untie his mate, who collapsed into his arms as soon as he was freed. Darya noticed Vanadi by the wall and hurried to check on the serpent. She stared solemnly at his body for a second before letting out a relieved sigh when her scan came back. A stasis charm would allow the serpent to survive long enough to make it to where he could be healed. The snake had quite a bit of internal damage, but nothing that would have immediately killed him. The familiar bond with Harry had shielded his body enough to survive.

Narcissa had been casting a scan on Harry in the meantime, relaxing when it showed nothing more severe than a few bruises. Lucius and Severus were standing over Molly’s frozen form, discussing something in quiet tones before Lucius nodded and strode over to the floo. Amelia Bones was called and Molly found herself shipped off to Azkaban with a 16 year sentence for kidnapping, attempted theft and attacking a familiar after a trial that was pushed through quickly that week. If Molly also mysteriously ended up with a few injuries before she was taken into custody, well, Amelia was willing to look the other way since creatures had a right to retaliation for the injury and abduction of their mate.

Vanadi was healed swiftly in the capable hands of Severus and Darya, and by the day of Yule, the snake was back to normal. The entire incident was something Harry was eager to forget and so the family moved on, dismissing it from mind in favor of enjoying the rest of their holidays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the rate I'm posting chapters, the entire thing will most likely be posted by the end of next week.
> 
> Wow, this project has been so fun to write and read comments on. It's gonna be weird moving on from it, but don't worry I've got several projects lined up to work on next.
> 
> Here's one of them: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26286964/chapters/63997030#main


	33. Chapter Twenty Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For LuxLacy: You get one chapter and that's it until the weekend, I really mean it this time lol
> 
> You got lucky in that the next one was probably one of the longest in the story

Yule was a happy day of celebration and family for the residents of Malfoy Manor. A sleepy Vanadi dozed by the fire while everyone enjoyed some hot chocolate courtesy of Harry, who had insisted on making it himself and had to elaborately work around the house elves in order to be allowed to do it. Gifts were exchanged and Harry was really happy at everyone’s reactions to their gifts from him. His own presents from those present were a dragonhide notebook from Severus, a green quill the color of his eyes from Narcissa, a Malfoy heirloom cloak pin from Lucius, and a blue flower crown from Darya. 

Draco had insisted Harry put it on immediately and melted at how cute the teen looked wearing it, pouting every time it seemed like Harry was going to take it off. Draco had given Harry a stylized snake choker with a green gem eye. Harry’s friends had sent their gifts by owl, with Luna sending a small rose colored statuette of a lion, snake, raven, and badger playing while Neville gifted him a plant, and the twins prank supplies for ‘those who feel you can’t be yourself’. Harry hoped his own presents for them had made it in time and that they liked them.

In the afternoon, Sirius and Remus came to the manor for a visit, bringing Harry a present which turned out to be an invention of the Marauders, a prank shield that could sense and protect you from pranks using magical sensitivity and reacting before a prank activated. Harry was delighted and gave them both a thankful hug and some hot chocolate. At one point, Sirius changed into Padfoot and put his paws up on the arm of the sofa Remus was sitting on while drinking his hot chocolate and talking with Darya. Remus absently patted Padfoot on the head and rested his mug there for a moment. Padfoot stuck his tongue out in a very uncanine way and barked, startling Remus a bit and look over at him. Realizing what he’d done, Remus laughed and apologized. Thankfully the hot chocolate had a no spill charm on the mug, so Padfoot didn’t end up with hot beverage all over his fur. Later, board games were retrieved and the group enjoyed an epic game of Uno and a round of card games in which the rules were observed less than half of the time, with new ones being made up on a whim. Harry had the misfortune at one point of being roped into a game of Monopoly in which he quite honestly feared for his life. The manor was filled with laughter at the fun and slightly insane activities of the afternoon and the house elves joined them for one last massive game of scrabble using a magically expanded set before Sirius and Remus had to leave.

That evening, the Malfoy Ball was happening and so after an early dinner, the remaining residents of the manor minus Severus and Darya, who had been required to return to the castle for the Hogwarts Yule dinner and would be returning for the ball later, parted ways to go prepare for the ball.

Narcissa helped Harry with plaiting his hair in an elegant and complicated pattern after he’d donned his robes, which were a bottle green that matched his eyes with silver trim. Draco would be wearing silver robes with green trim to complement his own. The ball was a masquerade, so Harry also had a elegant black and silver mask, which was currently waiting for him on the edge of the bed. Draco had vanished to the bathroom and emerged with soft, stylishly tousled hair a few minutes ago and was now sitting in the desk chair looking at his mate perhaps a bit lustfully.

Cissa finished Harry’s hair and fixed it in place with a twist of her wand. Her own hair was swept up in a graceful updo decorated with tiny silver flowers and she had chosen to wear a dress, one of a gray color that fell artistically down in a tumbling way at her waist and was embellished with intricate silver embroidery and tiny crystals.

Lucius joined them in the antechamber where they would be greeting their guests, the usually plain area transformed by the house elves. His robes were gray to match his wife, with the same silver embroidery patterns running along the sleeves and down panels along the sides, minus the crystals. He was wearing the hair ribbon that Harry had given him.

The guests began arriving, clad in formal robes and gowns and wearing masks. The four had donned their own masks when they came down to the first floor to wait outside the ballroom. Harry had peeked inside to see the same tasteful decoration as the antechamber held. One of the first guests to arrive was Lord Parkinson with his wife and daughter. Pansy had worn a soft purple dress with a sweetheart neckline and full skirt. The bodice was detailed with gold thread and her mask was decorated to match. Her parents had both chosen to wear black formal robes with simple gold edging and their masks were plain black.

Theo and Blaise appeared one after the other with their father and mother respectively. Theo had worn a simple, warm golden brown hue of robe with no decoration but his mask was truly a work of art. The decoration on it was enchanted to move, endlessly growing tiny golden leaves and curling around its branches. Fascinated, Harry had to be poked to remember to politely greet the Notts. Blaise had chosen to wear plain black formal robes like those Harry had worn in his fourth year as a champion.

Neville arrived in delicate green robes and a stunning mask of whimsical ferns with Augusta, who had opted for dignified blue robes and a simple blue mask. The Greengrass family came in black and silver robes, simple except for Daphne’s daring muggle style dress with one sleeve and lace winding along the dress from the choker style collar to the high slit on one side. Harry was finally introduced to Astoria, who was wearing a pink dress reminiscent of a stereotypical princess in a muggle fairytale.

Then the Weasleys arrived. All but Ginny and Ron had been invited, so it was Arthur at the head of the group as they made their way into the room. Their Aunt Muriel had declined her invitation in order to keep an eye on the youngest children, but sent a small gift for the Malfoys with Arthur. Muriel was the aunt of Molly, but had never liked her much and favored the Prewitt twins, and as such, had been devastated at their deaths in the war, retreating from society for the most part. She’d reemerged from her self-imposed isolation after hearing about Molly’s incarceration and offered to help Arthur with the children as the Weasley patriarch was rarely at home due to his work at the Ministry.

Bill and Charlie had kept their robes and masks simple but well-made, being quite well paid by their own jobs, while Fred and George had opted for colorful but still tasteful robes and masks. Arthur had ended up with some new black formal robes courtesy of Muriel and as a whole the family represented themselves in a positive light. Lucius took the opportunity to formally and publicly end the blood feud with the Weasleys, in exception of Molly, Ginerva, and Ronald. Arthur seemed surprised and a bit overwhelmed but immensely relieved and formally thanked Lucius in return, offering a favor in the future in exchange.

The Weasley patriarch also seemed happy to see Harry with the Malfoys, congratulating him on finding his mate and also offering Harry a future favor along with an apology for not doing more to help him. The man hadn’t noticed the evidence of abuse before, but as the two had only met a handful of times and not for long, Harry was more than willing to forgive him.

The ball was well on its way now and Draco asked his mate to dance, the pair making a graceful image as they whirled around the ballroom together. Several of the younger guests looked enviously at the obvious chemistry the two had, hoping to someday find a partner that they could have such an comfortable and familiar relationship with like that.

Luna, who had arrived a bit late as she had come from Hogwarts with Darya and Severus, appeared next to Harry while Draco had been borrowed by Lucius to introduce to a business associate. Her dress was made with silky turquoise material with white accents. It had a long narrow skirt with a corset at the waist and off the shoulder sleeves. Tiny fabric roses were scattered along the skirt and her turquoise mask had rose pattern embroidery in the top corners and white lace in a shape of moon phases around the edges. 

“Would you like to dance, Harry? Your dragon will be a while.” Luna said, while pushing her loose hair away from her mask with a knowing smile.

Harry accepted her offer, returning her smile with a fondly amused one of his own. “Of course, little moon.” He twirled his sister in all but blood around, happy to spend time with her. He got to see far too little of Luna, seeing as she was a year below him at school and in another house. They really needed to do something about the house divisions, but that was a thought for another time.

The two glided around in circles, talking easily about everything and anything. At one point, Harry spotted Severus and Darya over by a refreshment table and smiled at how cute the two were being. Severus had a soft smile on his face, his usual guarded scowl for the students nowhere in sight as he held his wife’s hand. The two had matching outfits, with Severus wearing black robes with blue decoration and Darya’s dress was blue with black decoration. The pair had decided to add subtle nods to their creatures in their masks and Severus had tiny red-tipped white triangles around the edge of the black that if you knew the reference became miniature fangs while Darya had swirling waves and tiny red fish on her own blue mask.

Harry’s attention was pulled back to Luna when she laughed and moved them towards the edge of the room. She smirked playfully at him. “Have fun, your dragon’s a bit cranky I think.” Luna said, waving before vanishing into the crowd with a startled Neville who had been standing unsuspectingly nearby.

A grumpy looking Draco appeared from the direction of his father’s temporary business cult in the only corner with seating and tables and pulled Harry into his arms, breathing in his comforting scent. “I swear, father better leave me alone for the rest of the evening or I’m going to do something drastic. There’s only so much business talk I can bear to listen to before my head explodes.” The veela whined, clutching at his head as if in pain while pouting.

Harry rolled his eyes and patted Draco’s arm around his waist comfortingly before leading the way to a quiet area along the wall. “There, there, Draco, I’ll protect you from evil businessmen.” He said playfully, booping his mate on the nose.

The two spent the rest of the ball by the edge of the room, later joined by their friends, who managed to coerce the businessman to give them a table so they could sit down. Pansy was a really convincing speaker sometimes, truly. Even Lord Abbott seemed confused on how he’d agreed to leave the table, shaking his head as he went.

When the party wound down and everyone was saying their farewells, Harry gave his friends all a hug and snuck upstairs to his room, leaving Draco to suffer through the formal goodbyes with his parents as the hosts of the ball.

Draco finally made it into their bedroom only to find a sleepy Harry curled up around a pillow, tired from the long but fun day. Draco traded his robes in for his pajamas swiftly and climbed into the bed, cuddling up with Harry as they quickly fell asleep in the nest of blankets together.


	34. Special Chapter - The Elven Bakeoff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story actually began with the idea given to me off a random ingredient list generator

Harry was eager to participate in a fun cooking challenge the house elves had suggested. The challenge had been that they had to use three of a random list of ingredients and make something with it. The best concoction would win a box of chocolate bars that Harry had bothered Remus for until he’d relented and allowed Harry to have some. The ingredients included in the list were banana, red bell peppers, cranberries, hazelnuts, and Parmesan cheese. Reading the list over once more, Harry nodded to himself. That might just work.

He got to work, gazing around suspiciously to make sure no one was trying to copy his super genius idea. Grabbing two bananas from a counter and a bag of hazelnuts along with a bag of cranberries, Harry chopped and mixed and stirred and cooked until he’d created his masterpiece. The oven timer went off and he pulled out the tray, revealing cute fish shaped banana biscuits topped with cranberries and hazelnuts. The other house elves who were only spectating nodded and gave him thumbs up, while Mipsy and the other contestant Trion were too busy with their own creations to notice. 

Trion finished his own recipe and revealed a savory dish made with peppers, cheese, and hazelnuts. It sounded tasty enough to Harry, but he still thought his was the best personally. Like come on, the fish shapes were just too cute.

Mipsy also finished a moment later and unveiled a daring combination of cheese, banana, and nuts. It seemed weird but somehow went together. The spectating elves, who were also the judges, swarmed around the three dishes and taste-tested them enthusiastically. Both Trion and Mipsy’s dishes were varied in responses. Some loved them, some hated them. Harry’s dish, however, didn’t have a single critic. Smugly, Harry took his prize chocolate and vanished to go enjoy his winnings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm obsessed with this song called Obliviate - Lovelyz right now (It's in Korean partially) but everytime I look at the title it reminds me of Harry Potter lol is anyone even reading this? I'm kinda sleep deprived right now for Reasons so sorry if I'm rambling, tryna run a Writing club as the president is really stressful


	35. Chapter Twenty Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was originally planning on making more a dramatic re-entrance outside of the school for Dumbles but I was just writing this chapter while listening to music and it just. happened?
> 
> ... yeah anyways I feel personally like it fits the story so don't criticize me too much ok

The end of break came all too soon and then it was back to Hogwarts. Draco and Harry had the option of returning via floo with Lucius and Narcissa as family of a professor, but chose to ride the train with their friends instead. Harry spotted a much subdued looking Ginny on the platform being scolded by her aunt Muriel while Ron stared off into space, probably dreaming about food.

Harry’s friends spent the train ride reading and enjoying some snacks Mipsy had insisted on making for them. It was a peaceful ride, not interrupted by any annoying people, and Vanadi took the chance to test all of the students to see which ones made nice heaters and places to sleep on. Surprisingly, after Draco Luna was the one who Vanadi found the warmest.

The train arrived at the castle and everyone climbed off the train, piling into the waiting carriages for the returning students. Harry was perhaps feeling a bit like messing with the other students and as soon as the thestrals started moving up the path to the castle, he put his villainous plan into action. Harry let out an evil cackle as he commandeered the carriage he was in with Draco, Neville, and Luna, directing the thestrals to head straight for the lake. The skeletal horses were able to fly and with a bit of magical assistance, could take the carriages right up into the air with them. All around him, there was screams and chaos as the other students were brought along behind Harry’s carriage, shooting straight for the water. There was a bit of a bump as they went over a fallen tree branch on the grass by the edge of the lake and then they were airborne. Harry let out a whoop of excitement as they rushed upwards before swooping around to land at the top of the path where the carriages went meant to stop. Behind him, Neville looked faintly green, stumbling out shakily as soon as the wheels touched the ground. Harry gave him an apologetic smile and offered an anti-nausea potion from his school bag.

Professor Sprout, who had been waiting on the steps of the castle to greet him, was quite possibly in shock, staring blankly at the scene of chaos in front of her. Luna walked over to her and cleared her throat politely, causing the woman to jump and shake herself.

“Right, sorry. This way, everyone! If you need a nausea potion, head to the hospital wing please with Raina.” Sprout called, pointing out the Ravenclaw prefect nearby who was helping a second year out of their carriage. “Everyone else, to the Great Hall, if you would.”

A yellowy-green looking Ron was among those who went with the prefect, but sadly Ginny seemed to be fine. Hermione had stayed at the castle over break, so Harry hadn’t been able to get her either. Pouting a bit, Harry took Draco’s hand and walked with him into the Great Hall. Lucius and Severus were seated at the staff table having an animated discussion, but looked up as the students came in and waved to the two.

A mostly pleasant evening followed, interrupted only by a trouble trio complaining loudly and accusing Harry of pretending to be kidnapped for attention and throwing an innocent Molly in prison.The twins, overhearing them, had a long laugh about that before casually tossing a couple of silencing charms their way after the whining got too annoying. A round of applause actually erupted at the Gryffindor table and spread to the other tables after this, as no one was fond of the three. McGonagall would deny it until her dying breath, but Severus’s sharp eyes had caught even her clapping quietly under the table.

***

The next morning brought many people to the state of believing that they were hallucinating when they walked into the Great Hall for breakfast only to find Dumbledore casually sitting in the Headmaster's chair. He was apparently unconcerned that he was a fugitive criminal but then again he also had a ridiculously tight grip on Fawkes leg from where the phoenix was perched on the arm of the chair.

The hallucination theory only gained more credence when bewildered students and staff noticed none other than Voldemort floating in the air above the chair, seemingly unconscious. Flitwick took one look at the situation and left Severus to keep an eye on everything, rushing off to floo the DMLE. Meanwhile, all of the teachers present in the hall moved so they were between the students and the two men.

At that moment, Harry and Draco appeared in the doorway, having been running late that morning. Spotting Dumbledore, Harry’s eyes widened and he immediately slid towards a shadowy corner. Unfortunately, Dumbledore had already seen him and dropped Voldemort on the ground with a wave of his wand.

“It’s simply for the greater good, my boy.” The former headmaster said, giving a not quite there grin. At his side, Harry flinched at the use of the word boy and unconsciously stepped close to his mate. Draco had to wonder if the man had finally gone insane, and this idea was echoed by several people. One nearby Slytherin muttered “I think the old coot’s finally gone senile” not so quietly under their breath. Personally, he hoped not, if so then they wouldn’t be able to punish the man as much legally, but, well, there were always more illegal methods if needed. 

The disoriented Voldemort locked eyes on Harry and an obsessive, clouded look took over his face. Completely ignoring the presence of everyone else in the room, he headed straight for him. Harry stared at him assessingly for a moment, wand already in hand. Could it be? Harry’s eyes darted over to Draco and the two exchanged a calculating look before the veela slid around so he had a good shot at the man’s back. As soon as Voldemort came in range, down he went from a stunner, before even having the chance to cast any spells at Harry.

Up at the staff table, Dumbledore did not look pleased. He tried to send a renervate towards the Dark Lord, which was quickly deflected by Flitwick, who had arrived back in the hall accompanied by a large group of aurors. Sensing Dumbledore might be about to force Fawkes to flash him out again, an unseen Severus slid out of the shadows behind the man and rapidly cast several spells. The man never had a chance, falling to the floor stiffly under petrification, stunning, and sleep spells. It was almost anticlimactic in a way, Harry had been expecting some huge big fight.

Seeing Dumbledore’s wand on the floor, Harry darted forward to pick the wand that was rightfully his up. Several Aurors had pointed their wands at him because of the sudden movement and going towards Dumbledore, but relaxed after a sharp call from Madam Bones. The Elder Wand grew warm in his hand and visible magic curled through the air as it bound itself to him permanently. The wand would never again work for another, even his mate would be unable to cast with it. Magic itself had chosen to give the wand to Harry, so legally the wand could not be used for evidence or taken from Harry.

Both Voldemort and Dumbledore were removed from the castle, taken by Amelia Bones personally to ensure nothing happened to them in the time until Dumbledore would be put on trial. After Harry had mentioned his suspicions, Voldemort would simply be held in a secure, undisclosed location until Dumbledore’s trial was concluded.

School continued as scheduled that day, as staff thought it would be better to keep the students occupied after that ordeal first thing in the morning. A swiftly arranged trial notice arrived for several people at lunch and many more students were sending out letters to their parents about what had occurred. Harry and Draco shared their theory with Lucius and Severus and plans were made for the trial that would happen that weekend.


	36. Chapter Thirty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big plot twist in this chapter, I love when ideas just fall into place, I'd not even thought of it while planning the story but then I just saw Dumbles tryna get one last shot fired at them in my head and this happened

The trial was certainly going to be an event in the Wizarding World. The public was somewhat disappointed as they weren’t allowed in due to security risk from exactly who was being put on trial, but the media were after a careful vetting process. Dumbledore would be given Veritaserum without a choice in the matter as a result of the nature of his crimes and his well-known manipulative tendencies.

On the morning of the trial, a formally dressed Lord Potter and Heir Malfoy departed for the Wizengamot along with Lord and Lady Malfoy and Lord and Lady Prince. Several others from the school had been called as witnesses and so accompanied them to the courtroom. McGonagall was among them and had donned her clan’s robes for the occasion, a solemn look on her tired face.

Lord Black and his husband were already there, waiting by the entrance of the courtroom in formal robes. With a combined effort between Lord Malfoy and Amelia Bones, Peter Pettigrew had been caught alive and Sirius found innocent, so he was now able to go in public without fear of being arrested. Everyone was present promptly today, as no one wanted to be late to this major affair, so it was quickly the time of the trial.

A defiant looking Dumbledore was marched into the room wearing magic-suppressing cuffs surrounded by unsympathetic aurors and placed in the chair in the center, chains whipping up to restrain him perhaps a bit too tightly. He had refused a lawyer and seemed to think everyone would spontaneously change their minds after he revealed it was for the greater good or whatever. An almost gleeful looking Madam Bones was quick to administer the truth serum after its quality was verified by a distinguished Potions Master. Severus was often called upon to do this in courts but couldn’t be used this time as an impartial member of the prosecution, so an acquaintance of his from a Potions convention was chosen instead.

Questioning went along the rather obvious lines of asking him about particular events and many crimes were quickly revealed, even some that had been previously unknown. It did indeed turn out that Voldemort had not been under his own control and under the imperius along with many other mind-altering potions, spells, and blocks. Dumbledore also admitted to murdering the Potters himself, falsifying the prophecy, and that Pettigrew had been working for him instead of the Death Eaters. The horcrux that had been in Harry turned out to have been part of Dumbledore’s soul, to which Harry made a disgusted expression and shuddered, glad it was gone. Line theft and pre-mediated murder attempt on multiple occasions were added to the steadily growing list of his crimes.

Several of the Wizengamot were already quite pale at the pure magnitude of everything the man had managed to get away with because of defeating Grindelwald. Speaking of the former Dark Lord, Dumbledore revealed, fighting against the truth serum every second of the way, that he was actually the one who came up with all of Grindelwald’s plans at the beginning and that the two had been good friends and lovers. Harry really did not want to think about the man doing anything even remotely, uh, carnal, and promptly blocked that fact out.

By the time the Veritaserum wore off, Dumbledore had more than dug his own grave. He was sentenced to the Kiss and immediately began to be taken off for such a thing. Someone had forgotten to silence Dumbledore this time and the man looked straight at Sirius and said, “Shame that you’ll never be able to find where I’ve been keeping your dear little brother, mutt.” Sneering the man was pulled out the room, leaving a shocked and ghostly pale Sirius behind.

Harry could tell exactly the moment when Dumbledore was Kissed as Fawkes appeared with a flash and exuberant cry, circling around before coming to land on Harry’s shoulder. His forced bond with the man had been broken and the phoenix was now free. Fawkes looked with dark sad eyes at Sirius before chirping meaningfully.

Draco looked suddenly at Fawkes, being able to understand the bird somewhat due to his veela. “You can take us to Regulus?” He said in an eager voice, having heard many stories about his family member, who had gone missing during the war and was assumed to be dead. Fawkes dipped his head in a nod and chirped again, extending a leg towards the others, who all carefully took hold of it. With a flash and bright chiming sound, they were gone.


	37. Chapter Thirty One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me quite a while to try and make sure everything surrounding Marvolo bean worked out and made sense, you all better appreciate my efforts lol

In a hidden room deep within Dumbledore’s family home, a man looked up startled at the sound of a flash and chime. The man shivered from his place on the cold stone floor, backing up towards the wall. Hopefully, Dumbledore wasn’t in a bad mood and only wanted him to brew potions. He didn’t think he could handle any more of the bad mood. Dumbledore had felt angry quite a lot recently and taken it out on him, leaving him even weaker than usual.

He was extremely surprised when instead of Dumbledore, another man with long dark hair came into the room with the phoenix on his shoulder, followed by a group of other people. They all had formal robes on and hopeful looks on their faces. One face in particular caused him to stare in stunned silence before tears blurred his vision and his eyes stung. His brother Sirius, who he hadn’t seen for so many years even before he had been brought to this horrible place, was here.

Regulus was too weak to stand, so the dark haired man with the phoenix and another, a tall blond with a soft smile helped him up. Sirius hugged him carefully, crying and Regulus practically collapsed into his arms, sobbing at seeing his brother again. It had devastated him when Sirius left him all alone, running away and getting disowned, only to ignore him and seemingly forget all about him, not even sparing him a glance in the hallway at Hogwarts. From what he could figure out from the simple explanations of everything that had happened while another blond, a woman this time, was working on healing him, his brother had not been at fault. Another victim of Dumbledore, one of many who had only now broken free with the help of Harry Potter.

The younger Black brother knew all about Harry Potter. Dumbledore had constantly talked about him, smug and not bothering to hide anything from Regulus, confident that the man would never manage to escape. It looked like the man had destroyed himself with a bit of help from the Malfoys and their allies in the end. The thought brought him immense satisfaction, along with hearing of Dumbledore’s fate. 

Narcissa wasted no time in confining him to bed to rest and finish healing, bringing him to a nice room at Malfoy Manor and assigning one of the house elves to watch over him and help him. Regulus had been tired out from the strenuous day and quickly passed out as soon as he was left alone, having had potions practically shoved down his throat and spells cast on him for the better part of the past hour. 

The Malfoy matriarch swiftly turned to Harry once everyone else was gathered there and narrowed her eyes at Harry. ”Now, what's all this about nearly dying every year?” She said in a dangerously calm tone. Harry paled a bit, realizing Dumbledore had revealed in low detail just how many life-threatening things he’d shoved his favorite pawn into and now he’d have to explain all the crazy experiences he’d gone through over the past 4 years. He recounted everything in a detached manner, slumping against Draco for comfort. Horrified faces met his eyes when he looked up cautiously after finishing his story. 

“How are you even alive?” Draco mumbled brokenly, squeezing Harry into a hug that was quickly hijacked by the adults who all came over to attempt to hug him to death, even Severus. Narcissa mentioned how several things that had shown up on her health scans before made a lot more sense now, sparking exchanged glances and concerned frowns, and then the group left it at that, sensing Harry’s wish to just forget about it and move on.

The group went to Gringotts the next day and witnessed, along with Amelia Bones as a representative of the Ministry, Voldemort’s purging. The poor man had been only a young teen when Dumbledore had first started the more extreme things on him like forcing him to split his soul and murder his own father. Tom Marvolo Riddle was found to be innocent of any crimes and his sanity was restored. The Ministry also ended up having to drop any charges against the death eaters when they all ended up to have been under mind control and potions as well.

The goblins had helped to retrieve all of the horcruxes and destroyed the soul pieces while leaving the objects intact. They were some of the Hogwarts founders' heirlooms and many were outraged that Dumbledore had gone so far as to defile them like that. A quiet and disoriented Tom joined Regulus at the manor for a while and gave Harry the ring with the symbol of the deathly hallows on it that had been one of his horcruxes, as it rightfully belonged to Harry as Lord Peverell.

Since Harry had claimed the wand and already had the cloak, the stone completed his hallows and Death appeared briefly to congratulate him on getting all of his objects and mentioned that all three would only work for him now. Their magic was tied to his as the Master of Death and could never be parted.

With Dumbledore and Voldemort gone, the rising tension that had been steadily growing in the wizarding world over the past several years began to dissipate. A couple of blindly stubborn order members had been promptly arrested recently for attacking an innocent minor in Diagon Alley while yelling he was a Death Eater. Cassian Selwyn had not in fact, ever been a Death Eater and was actually from a neutral family. His only point the order members believed him to be a Death Eater for was because he’d been sorted in Slytherin. Honestly, the blind prejudice against the house needed something to be done. It was a school house, why did so many people believe it mattered over other things, it was honestly ridiculous.

As one of the heirs to Hogwarts, Harry was able to make steps towards ending the divide between houses, encouraging students to sit at each other's tables during meals and make friends with people in other houses. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny ended up expelled from Hogwarts with their wands snapped after one too many violent incidents they started and while the two Weasleys were homeschooled by Muriel, Hermione’s parents found out about everything that had been going on without their knowledge and disowned her, throwing her out on the street to find her own way. She ended up moving to another country and trying to start over, but from what Harry had heard, that wasn’t going too well. He didn’t think she’d ever learn at this point. The Weasley family was able to afford tutors for the two, as it turned out the only reason they’d been so poor was due to Molly’s mismanaging of their money and refusing to get a job herself, leaving Arthur working ridiculous hours to try and support his family. With more money available and the assistance of Muriel, Arthur was now able to work more reasonable amounts of time and spend more time with his family.

The weeks flew by and soon Valentine’s day was soon approaching. Draco and Harry had made plans to have a nice evening in the Room of Requirement after spending a nice day with their friends. Valentine’s day would fall on a weekend that year so there would be no classes. Dean and Seamus spent the day hanging out with the group as well, bringing snacks to share and being nauseatingly cute together. Hegwig and Goldy were also found hanging out together in the rafters of the great hall and other various locations around the castle often and with a long-suffering sigh, Draco complained that it felt like he was third wheeling all the time.


	38. Chapter Thirty Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah no I didn't forget about the wards lol, it just took a while til it would be safe for the team to come in and do so

Now that everything had settled down, the students enjoyed a peaceful rest of the school year. After the trial, the wizarding community had stopped sending hate mail and slandering Harry and quite a large chunk of the student body had approached him at one point to apologize. Creatures were much more open with their appearances and behavior now that Dumbledore was gone from the castle, and several students and teachers' behavior had changed too after a school wide purge was carried out. Madame Pomfrey, Lavender Brown, and McGonagall were among those affected. Many inter-house friendships were blooming and several new couples had come out of it as well. Flitwick had continued to improve Hogwarts in his new role as Headmaster and the date had been scheduled for the wards to be replaced after the students were gone for the summer. The new Headmaster had also made the wildly popular decision of getting rid of Binns and hiring a competent teacher for History of Magic. Before then, the Slytherins had been taught the class by Severus on evenings and weekends with the assistance of the prefects and head students in the common room, but the rest of the school’s grades had been suffering from the ghost’s endling droning about the Goblin Wars.

OWLs and NEWTs rapidly approached and the 5th years and 7th years descended into the chaos of frantic studying, trying to ensure they were prepared for their exams. At least with a decent DADA professor that year, they had one less extra thing to worry about. Draco and Harry both felt confident they had done well on their exams and the feeling more or less was reflected in the rest of their friends. Only Luna had not taken her OWLs that year, and the blonde had looked out for them and made sure that they were sleeping and eating and taking breaks in the weeks that led up to the actual exam date.

The end of year feast was upon them in what felt like the blink of an eye and Ravenclaw was enthusiastically celebrating a win for the first time since Harry had begun Hogwarts. The headmaster had always manipulated the points so Gryffindor took the House Cup the past 5 years for some reason, stealing it away from the rightful winners each time. This had been all three of the other houses and many students had stopped bothering with house points after realizing there was no point. They had started again this year after the removal of Dumbledore and the rivalry had been much more friendly this time.

Back at Malfoy Manor, Regulus was almost completely recovered. He still had some permanent physical damage from his time as Dumbledore’s prisoner, but thankfully none of it was too horrible, only troubling him a bit with quick mobility and the like. Tom, on the other hand, was physically recovered entirely, but his mental state was a different manner. His memories and mind were a complete mess and even with a mind healer, it would be many years before he could be said to have improved much at all. He had however, been, able to take his place as the Heir of Slytherin now that he was sane, having been unable to claim the Lordship.

With the students gone, the wards were overhauled by a well proficient team comprised of Goblins, a couple Unspeakables, the Hogwarts heirs, and several other powerful wixen who had volunteered to assist. From the residue of the previous wards, they could see that Dumbledore had greatly mangled the school’s protections, removing and overriding various ones that blocked things such as people will ill intent from entering the grounds and adding in new ones such as one particular one that had disgusted all present which had alerted the headmaster to powerful students and attempted to suppress and steal some of their magic, thankfully unsuccessfully due to a stronger ward laid by the founders themselves. It took several days of hard work, but the wards were completed and stronger than they’d been since the time of the Founders. A well satisfied team enjoyed a celebratory lunch by the Black Lake before parting way, several new friendships having been created over the course of their time together.


	39. Chapter Thirty Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last big chapter, wow its been a long time coming. I'm really happy to have shared this experience with you all.
> 
> I put a lot of thought into all of Severus's tattoos :)

The summer started for the Malfoy family with a happy event, Draco’s birthday. It was on the 5th of June so Harry had missed it last year, making the elf determined to have this year be a special one for his mate. They had a big party for Draco with all of their friends and enjoyed some treats while listening to some live music. It turned out that Luna could play a violin and offered to provide some entertainment for them, accompanied by Seamus on his own fiddle. They also went out into the garden and enjoyed the sun, splashing around in the water. Severus and the other adults also joined them in the water, with the vampire removing his shirt so as not to ruin it, exposing some magical tattoos that Harry found fascinating. Apparently, magical tattoos could be charmed to move and do other things. He also discovered that Sirius and Remus both had one for checking the moon phase because of Remus being a werewolf.

In the case of Severus, he had five tattoos, not counting the Dark Mark his inner arm had previously held before Tom had gone through the purging. All of the marks had vanished after the spell Dumbledore had used was removed. The vampire was happy to explain the meaning to Harry when the elf asked, curious. There was an elegant doe on his right wrist which was for Lily, his sister in all but blood. Then there were two tiny bats on his left wrist which was a dual meaning of his vampire inheritance and finding his mate. A stunningly detailed rendering of stars inside a lantern that served as a guiding and protective light for a tiny moth whose wing pattern included an artistic version of Severus’s name covered a large portion of his back, in memory of Severus’s mother Eileen. The final tattoo was none other than a small white dragon over his heart, representing his godson Draco.

After several enjoyable hours outside, everyone dried off and returned inside for presents. Harry had at some point gained flowers in his hair and Draco thought they looked amazing, even better than the flower crown at Yule. He might have stolen Harry away for some secret kisses at one point, returning to a room full of amused, knowing looks. The party wound down after that and soon the guests left, returning to their own homes. Harry and Draco had quite the enjoyable night that evening.

The next day, Regulus announced his decision to join Sirius and Remus at Grimmauld place and so it was only Lucius, Narcissa, and Tom who remained at the manor along with Harry and Draco. Harry was sad to see him go and promised to come visit often, having grown close to the man while he was bedridden.

Death finished ‘training’ Harry and revealed that he could now travel through shadows and even through time with his powers as Master of Death. Harry made good use of this new skill by frequently popping by Azkaban to chat with the dementors or visit the reapers. He and Thany had started a prank war the other week and it had been a blast, lots of the reapers joined in and created energetic chaos. Even grumpy M had cracked a smile.

Darya had also declared he had completed his learning with her and given him a present to celebrate finishing his training to be an adult elf by creature standards. It was a beautiful silver bowl for water, decorated using her own magic, and there were tiny carvings reminding him of memories they had made together during their lessons in the Room of Requirement. Darya had taught him many things, from different magical creatures species and exercises to strengthen his powers to creature politics and the current laws about them in wizarding countries, but his favorites were almost always the animals he’d interacted with, which was reflected in the carvings. A tiny frog with an earring back was the first one he noticed, followed by a detailed depiction of the giant squid, whom he had met during a late-night excursion to the lake for one of their lessons. There were also some fish and other creatures he’d learned to work with, followed by the first thing he’d ever made with his powers, the tiny flower the previous summer he’d showed Draco. All in all, it was a beautiful gift and Harry thanked her profusely, hugging her happily before running off to show his mate.

Fawkes had ended up bonding with Regulus and the two had become close, as the phoenix understood better than anyone what the man had gone through, having been forced to witness much of it. Fawkes had gone to Grimmauld Place with Regulus but flashed in often at various places to say hello and even visited Ollivander once to give him one last feather.

Harry had visited Cedric’s grave, seeking closure for the boy’s death which had tormented his mind after the events of the third task. Gazing down at the simple headstone, Harry had mourned the opportunities Cedric had lost because of Dumbledore’s manipulations. Thankfully, no more young lives would be taken so cruelly like his now that Voldemort and Dumbledore were gone permanently.

The wizarding world was also improving as many of the laws Dumbledore had been involved with in the past were pulled for review and discarded as they were found to be immoral or just not useful. Creatures had gained quite a few rights back they had lost while the man was in power and Harry took this opportunity to reveal his status as a creature to the public. Of course, there were some negative reactions, but the majority were definitely positive.

It had been a crazy year, the months had gone by so fast, and Harry had grown so much and gained so much in that time. He now had a mate, amazing friends, and had found a family who loved him unconditionally. He’d come into an inheritance and worked hard to gain skills and improve as a person and a wizard. Harry hadn’t felt so happy in his life before, the past had never been so good. And to think, it would all start with a dream.


	40. Special Chapter - Swimming With The Squid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long time ago, while I was still writing the original, a friend had requested I include a special story for the squid. However, their idea was quite different from how I ended up writing this. The idea for it came to me while writing about the end of the school year.

Harry was having the time of his life. Darya had snuck him out of the castle one evening to visit the Black Lake and the Giant Squid had approached them, wanting to interact with the water elves. He got lonely in the lake all by himself, accompanied only by fish and the merpeople who tried to hunt him whenever they spotted him in the water. Apparently, he had been around since the time of the Founders and Rowena had been a water elf who had befriended him, helping him come up with a name of his own. The squid had chosen Umber and had greatly enjoyed living near the castle for the next century until the Founders had all passed away and the school warped and changed over the years until the true story of Umber had been lost and forgotten.

Anyways, Harry and Umber were playing a game where Umber would grasp Harry around the waist carefully and then toss him up into the air, challenging him to do more and more complicated and showy dives as he fell back down in the water. It was fun but quite hard, especially for Harry, who had only rarely been able to swim before. After a couple throws, Harry conceded defeat and then proceeded to watch an elegant Darya complete intricate and complex dive after dive. She’d had many years of experience playing and swimming in the water so was able to adapt to the tosses much easier than Harry. Water elves weren’t able to breathe underwater exactly, but their magic allowed them to absorb the oxygen through their skin so they didn’t need to come up for air as much.

After a little while, Harry found himself yawning and Darya checked the time before passing him a towel from her waterproof bag to dry off while they made the long walk back up to the castle. Draco was still awake, scribbling notes as he wrote an outline for a Transfiguration essay and glancing occasionally at his textbook. He looked up as Harry entered their dorm and abandoned his schoolwork to cast a couple warming charms at his mate, seeing Harry shivering and wrapped in a towel. The towels had drying charms woven into them but did nothing for temperature. Harry flopped down on his bed, too tired to switch clothes and watched Draco finish up his outline for a while, eyes growing heavier until he drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \+ bonus of smol bean Draco being studious


	41. Epilogue - Dreams Come True

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The EPILOGUE 
> 
> O ~ O
> 
> Wow...  
> Yeah I decided to just finish off posting everything :D

Several years later, Harry and Draco had a beautiful wedding on the grounds of Malfoy Manor, complete with flowers in Harry’s hair as Draco so liked and a small group of family and friends for guests. Neville and Luna were now dating and several other of their friends were happily in relationships or in the case of Pansy, happily single. Harry had become a teacher at Hogwarts for Defense, as the class had been renamed to get around the curse Dumbledore had placed on the DADA position, while Draco was a consultant healer and potioneer for St. Mungos after apprenticing with Darya, who was a healer. The two had chosen to live normally, putting the immortality of Harry’s title out of their minds for the next several decades as it wasn’t something they needed to worry about or decide on yet. Harry had also mastered the use of his animagus form and could often be found around the house lounging as a cat, accompanied by Vanadi and sometimes Hedwig and Goldy. 

Luna had taken over the Quibbler for her father while Neville had apprenticed with a Herbologist who owned a shop in Diagon Alley. Blaise and Theo both went into politics full-time, living well with the inheritances left to them by their parents, and helped assist Harry with his lordship duties when needed. Pansy had become a private dueling instructor and had several satisfied clients, while Dean and Seamus had also gotten married and opened a shop together. They’d been unable to decide on one type of store, so instead just sold whatever they wanted.

Lucius had cashed in his favor from Arthur in order to have the Prewitt seat vote on his side during an evenly matched battle over a piece of legislature that would allow the Ministry to remove abused muggleborns and wixen living with muggles and have them fostered or adopted by wizarding families. Harry had preferred to forget about it and never ended up using his own favor from the Weasley patriarch.

Ginny had begun dating a sweet boy and Arthur thought that maybe she’d finally grown up and become a better person. Sadly, he was disappointed when it came out that she’d used a love potion on him and was sentenced to Azkaban for attempting line theft. Ron was still lazy and refused to get a job, despite Muriel’s best efforts. In the end, Arthur decided to kick him out of the house in order to force him to become more responsible. That ended with a drunken fight and Ron also in Azkaban for assault and attempted murder.

Sirius had used his Lordship to reinstate Andromeda Tonks and her daughter back into the Black family, who were happy to return and Nymphadora, who insisted on being called Tonks, became good friends with Harry and his own friend group though she was quite a few years older, having graduated at the end of Draco and Harry’s first year. Tonks eventually began dating one of the twins' older brothers, Bill, and the two got married after a few years. Fred and George had booming business in their store and expanded to Hogsmeade, buying an old sweets shop on the edge and soon becoming competition for Zonkos nearby. 

And so, the world moved on, dreams coming true as the wizards and witches of Britain grew up and made inventions and ideas and shared them with their community. With divides vanishing as the Hogwarts houses healed and united as they had been meant to be, more people became friends and contributed unique perspectives on issues, pushing forwards towards the change that the wizarding world had so desperately needed but been unable to accomplish under the threat of war and prejudices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, to that reader who wanted all the special chapters together in a work, that's gonna be posted today also. <3


	42. Special Chapter - Drarry Arcade Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this idea for a special chapter from a random list of items generator which generated: a pair of sunglasses, a plushie dinosaur, and a candy bar.
> 
> Just had to add the owl plush hehe
> 
> would you believe me if I said I looked up popular plush dino names?

Draco finished packing his bag, shrinking the backpack down so he could tuck it in the pocket of his coat. Harry was sitting on the floor, picking at a loose thread on his pants. Draco turned away from the desk and extended a hand to help Harry off the ground, who took it with an excited smile.

“This is gonna be fun! I’ve always wanted to go to an arcade.” Harry exclaimed, practically yanking Draco out into the hallway with their still conjoined hands. The blonde followed behind his mate, smiling indulgently. It would be their first proper date since Paris almost a year ago and the two were venturing into the mundane world.

They made it to the arcade without incident and paid to go inside. All the blinking lights and electronics was disorienting, especially to Draco who was less knowledgeable about muggle technology than Harry. After a bit of hasty explaining, Harry and Draco wandered down one of the rows, looking at all the different games. They found several that seemed interesting and played one of the racing games, both failing miserably but having a great time trying to do various stunts. Harry spotted a claw machine and rushed over, having always wanted to try one after hearing Dudley mention it when he was younger. It was rigged, as many claw machines are, but the Potter luck worked positively for once and Harry managed to rescue a plush dinosaur from the imprisonment of the machine, grinning brightly as he squished its soft green fluff. 

A series of reflex related games before they ran out of credits saw the two with quite a respectable tally of tickets, having great skills from their years as Quidditch seekers. They perused the prizes available and Draco ended up choosing a candy bar and a nice pair of sunglasses while Harry went with a plush owl that looked sort of like Goldy to join his dinosaur. The two plushies were promptly named as Harry and Draco walked outside to their portkey point, gaining the titles of Goldfish and Roary respectively.


	43. Ending Note: Thank you to my readers <3

I love you all so much. Reading your comments always gives me a laugh and bright smile to make my day better. I've grown so much as a writer over the past couple years and several of you even mentioned this which made me really proud my efforts had paid off. I also hope that some of my readers who discovered this work will continue to enjoy my other works and future stories and that this isn't the end of our journey together. <3

Hope you all have a wonderful day and thank you so much for all your support and help. Shoutout to Chris52_lane especially, I can always count on you popping by many of my works to comment and your words are such a huge reassurance that people enjoy my writing.

Also great thanks to Blackangel150 + severus_snape + Reading_Aholic + Animelover665577655 + lurksinshadows

I really loved reading your comments and reactions

Plus a sincere thank you Natsuki_14 + katcheese345 + TomboyFanGirl + Gwynie for supporting me from the beginning as I was only starting to rewrite Dreaming of You.

Please know that I will always be willing to accept and write ideas and gift the work to you (ask Chris52_lane if you don't believe me lol)

Within limits of course, I don't write explicit content and anything with mpreg, alpha/beta/omega, age play, horror, etc. is a hard no for me

(Mpreg is more of a complicated one, in creature stories such as Recollections of Change that I'm currently working on mentions of it is alright, but nothing graphic or characters actually in the story)

Anyways, that got a bit off topic lol.

Have a good rest of the weekend (or week if you're reading this later) <3

Hope to see you around on other stories in the future, I'll miss you all...


	44. Special Announcement 9/7/20

Hello there, lovely stars! I've a special announcement to make. Beginning on 9/7/20, I am holding a competition. It will run until 9/30/20 so you have plenty of time to submit an entry. You have been challenged to write a short paragraph for a prompt/story idea for Harry Potter fanfiction. I will pick 5 of my favorite ones and readers can vote on which one they want to win via a google form until October 10th, at which time the winner will be announced. The prize? The winner will get to choose the next story idea I will write. Whether they choose their own story idea (the one they submitted) or request to see a list of my own story ideas to be written in the future is up to them. This story may be a oneshot or a longer story and it will be gifted to them.

Where to submit: In this chapter comment section, simply post there and you will be entered. An account is required to participate, so sorry to my guests who read this story. If you wish, guests may still leave an idea but it won't be in the competition, only added to my potential story list if I like it. :)

⭐️Midnight⭐️


	45. Bonus Special Chapter Story

A bonus chapter special story has been included in the special chapter collection so I wanted to make sure you all knew about it so you don't miss out :D


	46. Voting Time!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's right, time to vote for the winner of the challenge. You have until Oct 10 to vote.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, check out my new story Recollections of Change! :D

How to vote:

Simply go to this google form <https://forms.gle/ur7NhigyGoiBd6zK7>

Good luck to those who made it into the 5 for voting!


	47. Winner Announcement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aka here we go again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yet another long story to add to the chaotic mess that is my writing list
> 
> no hard feelings lol but I probably would've preferred a oneshot sorry not sorry
> 
> also Gwynie and Graydove71 I'd really love to write your ideas at some point with your permission and I'd gift you those stories :)

Right, so the moment you've all been waiting for. Dramatic music and all that stuff.

-plays Never Gonna Give You Up-

Now that we have that covered, lets get on with it

-drumroll-

The winner is... jk first I have to go over some stuff

Okay, first off - The winner gets the prize of getting to choose the next story idea I will write. Whether they choose their own story idea (the one they submitted) or request to see a list of my own story ideas to be written in the future is up to them. This story may be a oneshot or a longer story and it will be gifted to them.

-pleads with the writing deities to let me take a nap-

Don't mind me I was up too late reading last night

Now, we had many lovely entries but ultimately only 5 made it to voting. These ideas were by none other than **Gwynie, Graydove71, LordDracon, PotatoAngel,** and **Midori_Fuse.**

The final tally of votes for them is, in order from potato to big potato

With 2 votes - Midori_Fuse with their wonderful idea about Harry and Draco becoming roommates after Harry testifies for him in court and offers to house him during the probation period

A tie with 8 votes - PotatoAngel and Gwynie, absolutely amazing ideas (Harry and Hermione being soul twins from the former and Harry transferring to Durmstrang after his first year from the latter)

With 10 votes - GrayDove71 with Harry as trapped in cat form as Draco's pet

And last but certainly not least with 20 votes - LordDracon with their long ass idea that makes me wanna cry just by looking at it jk definitely, I'm not tearing up right now, absolutely not

But with my emotional state out of the equation -sobs- 

Here's the winning idea word for word:

"All 4 founders are still technically alive

Salazar is the Basilisk animagus

Godric is the giant squid

Rowena is fawkes the Phoenix

Helga became the castle like in monster house

Harry James Potter was actually born Septimus Godric Slytherin the first son of Godric and Salazar with salazar having been unknowingly pregnant before he shifted to hibernate in the Chamber. Salazar wakes up to stomache cramps and feeling much larger than he was when he started hibernating. Before he can get his bearings his body has expelled 2 eggs and he can feel a third coming. Without thinking he shifts back to human, finding himself very pregnant and in labor he panics and calls for a hogwarts house elf to bring his husband. Unfortunately Dumbledore had bound all of the hogwarts house elves to his will and instead went to see who had called the house elf. When he entered the chamber Salazar had already moved the 2 eggs into a side room with stasis charms on them to keep them safe so Dumbledore didn't see them.

I'm rambling so I'm gonna try just giving the rest as just events

Dumbledore enchants salazar and after "harry" is born as a emerald naga Dumbledore spells him into human form and drops him off with James and lily potter who found out that james was sterile. James and lily blood adopted him as their son. Story is like normal, voldemort kills them and harry goes to petunia.

When hagrid takes him to gringotts the spell on harry that bound him into a human form had weakened and the wards around gringotts broke it and with his naga form breaking through all the blocks place on his magic and mates by Dumbledore started cause intense pain so the goblin have to interfere to remove them.

His mates are fred and George who are the twin sons of Fabian and Gideon prewett that were taken by Molly when she found out her brothers had kids with regulus black because she refused to have them raised by homosexuals.

Fred and George are dark kitsunes, the prewet twins were kitsunes and regulus was a hellhound.

James was the unknown heir of hufflepuff and lily was the heir of ravenclaw that was thought to have died out but continued as a squib line. Sowoth the blood adoption harry is heir to all 4 founders.

I burned myself out just thinking of all this so just a few last things.

Manipulative Dumbledore

Ron, Hermione, and ginny are other children kidnapped from "dark" families by dumbledore and brainwashed.

Cedric gets stunned by harry so the killing curse misses him and ends up pledging his life to harry for saving his life

Krum I kinda wanna see with a guy, maybe malfoy?"

See what I mean? -wipes tears-

... Yeah, anyways get back to me LordDracon about what you want to do as the winner

Thanks everyone for participating, hopefully I'll get an update out for a couple of stories this weekend.

⭐️Midnight⭐️

ft. an honorary mention of the copious amounts of tea I drank this morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://m1dn1ghtstar.tumblr.com/
> 
> I made a tumblr! Come say hello :D


	48. Not a chapter - Just a note

Hello there! I hope you are doing well and that your life is going alright. Hang in there, you've got this!

If you were hoping for some story related content, well you are in luck! I was rereading my fic the other day and had the idea to draw Severus's tattoos.

I'm not the best artist, but I consider myself to be fairly good and so I hope you like these :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, the winner's story has been posted and is currently being written - It is under the title Heritage Unknown - so make sure to check it out! <3


	49. Exciting News!

For all you Thany fans out there, an all new awesome fic is coming soon in the DoY world and series. It will be focused on Death and their staff :)

I highly recommend subscribing to the DoY series so you will know when I post it! The title will be 'Meanwhile in the Afterlife...'

And now, a word from our sponsor...

* * *

*recorded applause*

A tall skeleton wearing an elegant red pantsuit appears, smiling politely, well, as politely as a skull can smile. She walks to a podium that has mysteriously appeared and looks out over the audience.

“Hello, everyone. I am Iriness, a representative from the Afterlife.” She says. “Please look forward to our new show, which will be airing soon. Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> The story ended up at 42 chapters. I kept the special stories, though some of the originals have been edited and new ones were added. Hope you’re staying safe and healthy ❤️
> 
> A special surprise for @severus_snape  
> Thanks for reading and your awesome words of encouragment <3


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